


A Change of Heart

by yikescalum



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Clemmings, Its a good time, M/M, Muke - Freeform, Single Dad!Michael, Smut, barista!ashton, barista!luke, idk how many chapters this will be honestly, michael has a baby and luke likes michael, roommate!calum, title doesnt really go with the story until later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-05-28 13:02:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6330283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikescalum/pseuds/yikescalum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the choices we make change the path that we take/but I know/that somewhere out there there's a path that we chose/there's a life that we share, there's a love and it grows</p><p>or</p><p>michael is a single dad and luke is a barista and their worlds collide</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. now its my time to depart and i just had a change of heart

**Author's Note:**

> guess whos back back back back again-gain-gain. hello it is me ur neighborhood muke ho back at it again with a fic but this is multichapter. I say 12 (including possible epilogue) because thats what i think but that could possibly grow or shrink, i just didnt want to do the whole question mark thing because i know everyone hates that. umm title from the song a change of heart by the 1975 (and chapter title bc im unoriginal), it doesnt quite go with the story but it does sort of and its 12 am so we're rolling with it. anyway, hope you enjoy !! (I should be good with updating bc i have the entire thing planned, like every few days or so, but pls dont yell at me if i dont)

“Dude. Dude. Dude!” Luke’s eyes snap open, jolted awake by a large hand jostling his side. He looks over to see his roommate, Calum, looking concerned. He rubs his eyes sleepily, looking at the clock, reading 8:15 A.M.

“Why the hell are you waking me up so early on my day off?” Luke rasps. He’s never nice when he first wakes up, never mind when he doesn’t have any coffee in his system.

“Um, I’m pretty sure this isn’t your day off,” Calum drawls. “In fact, you were supposed to be at work 15 minutes ago.” Luke’s eyes widen at this statement, snatching his phone off the charger from his bedside table to check the date. When he sees it he smacks himself on the forehead, throwing the duvet off himself.

“Fuck! Fuck you’re right, todays Saturday not Sunday! Shit!” Luke panics, jumping off his bed and grabbing the first pair of pants he saw and his crumpled work shirt he had thrown on the ground the night before. Calum yawns, wishes him luck and wanders out of his room. Luke foregoes brushing his teeth – he had gum in the car – and threw on his Converse, heading out the door.

\--

He burst into the rustic coffee shop as fast as he could, but he still wasn’t fast enough. Checking the clock, he was 25 minutes late. Luke groaned, hoping that he could just slip into the back without his manager noticing. But of course Luke’s life doesn’t go that smoothly, because as soon as he peered into the door that connected to the cashier side, she was standing right there. Of course she was. How could he ever think Lydia would miss a beat in her café. Luke doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. He pushes open the door, ready to accept the consequences.

“You’re late,” Luke hears behind him as he hangs up his coat and keys.

“I sure am,” he agrees.

“You know the late drill,” Lydia sighs, picking the spray bottle and grimy rag off the table and holding it out to a very uneager looking Luke, who begrudgingly takes them. “Go clean the bathroom, make it spotless. I want to be able to see myself in the mirror for once.” She scoffs. Luke rolls his eyes and heads to the men’s restroom.

As he approaches the bathroom, he begins to hear a noise. Almost, wait it can’t be, crying? Luke’s eyebrows furrow together and he slowly creaks open the door to the community bathroom. He immediately notices a man with shockingly blue hair leaning over the open changing table. The baby lying upon it was throwing a tantrum, little appendages kicking this way and that, a blood curdling scream so loud Luke was having a hard time believing it was this tiny human emitting it. The man was frantically trying to simultaneously change the baby and also quiet her down, and so far he was losing that battle.

“Ella, please, please just calm down,” he pleaded with his baby. Luke walked up slowly and tapped the man softly on the shoulder, as he wasn’t going to get his attention through sound over the shrieking.  They blue-haired man whipped his head around, face contorted with frustration and confusion. Luke could see tears forming in his pale green eyes and it breaks Luke’s heart. Now that he thinks about it, his hair really compliments his eyes. And it makes his pale skin glow almost. But he didn’t come here to admire the hurting – beautiful – man.

“Could I, uh, would you want me to help?” Luke offers, cringing at how possibly creeper sounding that came off. “I have a ton of younger cousins and I know exactly what to do,” he rambles, cheeks burning. The man looked reluctant to let a stranger handle his child, but also utterly desperate to satiate the child

“Uh, yeah, go ahead. Um here’s her diapers and stuff,” he sniffed, handing over the necessary supplies slowly. Luke sets down the spray bottle and rag and washes his hands quickly before accepting the supplies. He quickly started changing the small child – Ella was it? – with ease, he wasn’t lying about knowing what he was doing. And as for the screaming, Luke seemed to be the baby whisperer. Or God in the other man’s eyes, as when Luke picked Ella up and rocked her back and forth, her screaming halted, her father looking at Luke like he just told him all the secrets to the universe. Luke smiled softly at the man, bouncing around gently to sooth the baby.

“I don’t think I ever caught your name?” Luke offered, attempting to small talk.

“Oh yeah, um I’m Michael, and this is Ella,” he said, nodding his head at the baby in Luke’s arms. Michael was staring intently at Luke, almost like he was sizing him up. _Or he’s admiring me_. Luke shook that the thought out of his head, that wasn’t the point right now.

“Well I’m Luke, and I work here,” Luke , laughs lightly, looking down at the now sleeping infant. “Do you want her back?” he asked, and Michael seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, nodding as he graciously accepting his baby.

“I can’t thank you enough, I – I, that usually doesn’t happen. It’s just, I came here before work to get some coffee but I had to bring her with me because my babysitter cancelled, and then she needed to be changed, and then she started screaming, and I just kind of shut down.” Michael rambles, chuckling humorlessly. Luke just listens. “I’m a horrible parent, aren’t I? I didn’t know how to make her stop crying or how to make her feel better or –” he began to tear up again, eyes fixated on the sleeping child. Luke reached out and placed a hand on his arm (his skin was immensely soft).

“Hey, I’m sure you’re not a horrible parent, you just had a bad morning. All parents do.” Michael nodded, but Luke could tell he was having a hard time believing him. “How about I buy you a coffee, you look a bit a wreck.” Luke jokes, trying to get a little light out of the situation. It works and Michael chuckles softly, and Luke can’t help but think that’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard.

Luke sticks to his word, buying Michael a large black coffee (“you know you can ask to have things in it right, I’m paying for it you know.” “Yeah, but I like my coffee black like my soul. It’s the only thing that makes me feel punk rock anymore.”), and making sure that he’s perfectly okay before he leaves. Michael promises he is, and with Ella all buckled into her carrier, they were off. Luke quickly realizes this may be his last chance he’ll ever see Michael, so he runs to the man’s car, handing him his name and number on a slip of paper.

“If you ever need a babysitter,” Luke explains with a grin. But really, he just wants to see Michael again.


	2. this must be my dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke just hopes this isn't a bro date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi im sorry i update so late at night im The Worst(tm) but anyway sorry this and a couple more chapters are just kinda annoying fillers before it gets juicy so pls hold on and dont deem me the worst writer in the history of ever like my english teacher prolly has. ANYWAY cal makes his big debut and ashtons is soon sorry i just have issues writing about other people besides the main characters because i suck a lot. chapter titles from this must be my dream by the 1975 (shocker i know) (i guess i have to turn it into a thing now rip) but enjoy !!! let me know what you think!

Luke doesn’t really know what to expect. He certainly doesn’t expect Michael to text or call back immediately, he presumably has a job, a life, a child for god’s sake, but he expected him to contact him before a _week_. Luke is beating himself up. Did he come on too strong? Did he scare Michael by just showing up out of nowhere and changing his baby? Was he just a really weird person?

 _Stop, Luke,_ he thinks. _Jesus, you don’t even know if he’s gay. He could be a homophobic asshole for all you know._

So Luke pushes these thoughts from his blonde head. He felt something for Michael, he didn’t quite know what yet, but he definitely didn’t want to impose himself onto anyone, much less someone who had a baby.

Until Michael texts him.

**from: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [4:45 P.M.]**

 

> hey can we meet up to talk?? I never got to really properly thank you for what you did the other day.

Luke would be lying if he said that his heart didn’t skip a beat at the thought of going on a date with Michael. Well. “Date.” With a dopey grin on his face, he replied.

**to: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [4:46 P.M.]**

 

> yeah of course! my shift at the shop ends in like 15 minutes, wanna come meet me here? and honestly its no big deal :-)

**from: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [4:46 P.M.]**

 

> sounds good :)

Fifteen minutes have never gone by slower than that day when Luke waited for Michael to return. He didn’t even know why he was so excited, he barely knew him. It’s just, when Luke was with him in the bathroom he was so caring and sweet and loving towards Ella. Luke loved his compassion and his obviously huge heart. Also he was damn beautiful.

Finally, after what seemed more like fifteen years, Luke looks up from where he had been cleaning the same counter spot over and over to see the familiar icy blue hair with the baby carrier in tow. Luke smiled, throwing the rag into the sink. Yelling over his shoulder at Ashton, his coworker, to finish his shift for him, Luke made his way from behind the counter towards Michael. The man’s eyes searching for the familiar blonde hair filled with delight – at least that’s what Luke likes to think – when they land upon him.

“Hey!” Michael exclaimed, waving animatedly with the hand not holding the carrier. Fuck, he’s even more perfect when he’s happy.

“Hey!” Luke returns. “I see you brought the little one!” Luke squats down to get a closer look at Ella, grinning widely when she excitedly claps at Luke’s presence. She has Michael’s crisp, emerald eyes, and his squishy nose. She was the absolute cutest baby he’d ever seen, and he totally wasn’t biased.

 Stretching himself back to his regular above six foot frame, Luke motions toward a booth in the corner of the shop. Michael nods and follows him to the little area. Once he gets himself and Ella situated – lying on his chest, her head leaning on her shoulder, Luke swears he’s never seen anything more precious – he smiles gently at Luke.

“So,” he starts. “I just wanted to thank you again. It’s just, that was a rough morning that you just happened to catch me at, a lot had gone on. I just really appreciate your willingness to help me. It might seem small to you, but it meant the world to me,” Michael proclaims, craning his neck to see Ella’s face, a wide grin spreading from ear to ear. “She means the world to me.” He kisses her forehead gently, and Luke’s heart absolutely melts. He melts. He’s gone; he was killed by the sheer preciousness of the interactions between them. Now realizing it would be strange to just sit and stare at them, Luke carries on the conversation.

“Oh really, it’s okay. I’m glad I could be of help,” Luke chuckles. “So, I can buy us some coffees or something and we can talk if you want?” He tries, cocking an eyebrow. When Michael doesn’t respond right away, petting Ella’s thick hair, Luke face heats up. _Fuck, you dipshit. He doesn’t want this to be a date oh God oh God why do I always screw every —_ Luke’s intrusive thoughts are cut short with Michael agreeing.

“Yeah, that sounds really nice.” Luke suppresses a sigh of relief and jumps up to grab them coffee.

**to: cal pal [5:07 P.M.]**

 

> hey im gonna be a bit late getting home im talking with that one guy who i helped in the bathroom a few days ago

**from: cal pal [5:08 P.M.]**

 

> fun fun cool cool have fun on ur date

**to: cal pal [5:08 P.M.]**

 

> its not a date u asshat

**from: cal pal [5:08 P.M.]**

 

> whatever u say have fun dont bone him too hard

**to: cal pal [5:09 P.M.]**

 

> FUCK YOU CALUM

He shoves his phone in his pocket, trying to wipe the red tint from his face.

When he returns with one large black coffee and a mocha (“black, just like your heart”) (When Michael laughs, Luke vows to be a lot funnier to hear that again), they begin to talk. Luke was terrified that conversation was going to be awkward and halted, but it was quite the opposite. Through discussion, he found that they had a lot in common. They both played guitar, both loved FIFA, both enjoy the same music, and both own an unnecessary amount of flannels. The “both” list went on and on, and Luke couldn’t believe it. But eventually, Ella started to get cranky and tired, and Michael decided to end their little get-together. Once he had everything, Luke followed him to his car on the way to his own.

Before he got into his car, Michael stopped Luke.

“I had a really nice time today, I’m glad we got to talk. Text you later?” Luke nodded vigorously, waving at Michael and stuck his tongue out playfully at Ella, cherishing her drowsy laughter.

\--

In the car home, Luke’s cloud nine feeling slowly morphs into like a cloud two. He realizes that even though he and Michael did connect, there’s just too much in the way. The not knowing if his feelings were reciprocated, how to handle a relationship with someone with a baby, _the baby._

\--

Luke shut the door behind him, tossing his keys onto the table nearby with a conflicted sigh. Calum hears him stomping in and sticks his head out his bedroom door.

“Was he any good?” Calum teases, a mischievous smile playing across his plump lips. Luke scoffs, flipping him off with one hand, rubbing his closed eyes with the other. His roommate immediately noticed his non-playful demeanor, and becomes concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Calum asks, shuffling into the living room. When Luke just groans and flops onto the couch, he follows, plopping down next to the blonde boy.  “Come on, you know you can talk to Uncle Cal,” he quips, poking Luke on the arm. After about a couple seconds of this Luke gives in. He’s not in the mood to be poked.

“I just – UGH. I don’t know is the problem. So, I told you all about how he was really pretty and has a kid and all that jazz. And we started talking after he suggested we meet up, and we have a lot in common,” he starts. Calum nods slowly.

“That’s good right?” he asks.

“Yeah it is, but on the way home I realized how complicated this situation is. I don’t know how to navigate a relationship with someone with a baby, I don’t know if he just sees us as friends, I don’t even fucking know if he likes boys!” Luke grunts, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. His roommate’s face scrunches up in thought before speaking.

“Well, for the relationship part, that’s a thing you guys will have to take one step at a time. Get to know him a little more, figure out his boundaries. That will also show if he’s interested or not. That’s really the only thing you can do. Text him tonight and see how far you get, and if not, try to meet again in person.” Calum proclaims. Luke raises his eyebrows and chuckles lightly, surprised at his normally immature friend’s sudden wisdom. Calum smacks his arm. “Hey, I can be smart when I want to. Just, it’s obvious you care about this guy, so if you’re willing, you should definitely try. Just make sure that he’s comfortable at all times. And he kinda calls the shots, ya know, with having a tiny human and all.” Calum laughs. Luke nods.

“Thanks dude, I appreciate it.” Luke says.

“Great. Now that we’ve had this great heart-to-heart, let’s watch a really scary movie to insure our hypermasculinity.”  Luke laughs but agrees, and they get situated, eternally grateful for good friends.

\--

About halfway through the movie, Luke’s butt buzzes. He extracts his phone from his pocket, noticing a text from Michael.

**from: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [8:16 P.M.]**

 

> hey, its later ;)

_What a nerd,_ Luke smiles to himself.

**to: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [8:16 P.M.]**

 

> you’re quite right

**from: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [8:17 P.M.]**

 

> haha. But really, I had a fun time. Wanna meet up again tomorrow? Ella is with her grandma all day. Maybe I can pay for the coffee this time lol

**to: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [8:18 P.M.]**

 

> lol sounds great. don’t forget your black soul

Luke cringes as soon as he hits send. Michael probably thinks he’s the stupidest person alive.

**from: Michael (cute coffee shop dad guy) [8:20 P.M.]**

 

> LOL I wont, and im quite offended you’d think I ever would. its the only part of me that attracts people

He doesn’t think that.

 


	3. i find it hard to say bye bye even in this state of you and i

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> luke? michael? love? eh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at that ace summary im so good with words. also, you may be asking urself: why is this hooligan updating daily? 1) im a lifeless loser lmao 2) i want to try to get this done before spring break because im going on holiday but the week after break is a shit ton of exams and i dont want to not update for 2 weeks sooo yeah! anyway welcome to the land of side cashton and angst because i cant write anything without angst bc im the Absolute Worst. also next chapter im going to start switching to michaels pov just to make the story less annoying and confusing and itll make the chapters longer bc i suck and only write like 1.2k chapters. ANYWAY title from medicine by GASP the 1975 what did u expect anyway enjoy

Luke is frantic. His second “date” with Michael is in an hour and he was planning on asking him about dating and stuff but now he’s terrified of how that’s going to go. He really enjoys Michael’s presence, and doesn’t want to throw that all away just because of a stupid crush. How was he even going to approach it? “I’m gay as hell, are you too?” Or maybe, “hi Michael! How are you? Are you by chance not straight because I really want to, ahem, kiss you”. Perhaps, the simple, “what gives you a boner?” would work.

Calum’s giggling snaps Luke out of his *intelligent* thoughts. Luke whips his head towards the noise, eyebrows furrowing together before he realized he invited him here.

“Are you gonna just stand there and stare into the void or tell me why you made me come all the way out the shop to talk to you?” his roommate teases, cocking a thick eyebrow.

“Wait here, dick,” Luke insults, rolling his eyes. He pushes himself off where he was leaning against the worktop, and starts towards the back to get his belongings to leave. “Hey Ash, cover my shift for me, I have like an hour left,” he calls, and the curly headed man appears from the back room.

“When will Luke Hemmings finish his own damn shifts? The question will continue to be researched…” Ashton fades off, suddenly entranced by the Maori boy in the queue. Calum seemed to be under the same effect, his face morphing from impatience with Luke to fascination with Ashton. Luke sees this and laughs dryly, grabbing his things from the back and walking around to the front. When he gets back to Calum, he was attempting to ordering a coffee and muffin. He was doing it just to talk to Ashton, Luke knew this game all too well.

“You don’t even like coffee,” Luke points out with a smirk. Ashton giggles, raising his eyebrows.

“Pshhhh,” the raven haired boy waves him off, his face reddening. Luke rolls his eyes for the thirtieth time today and grabs his roommate by the arm.  
“Come on, lover boy,” he mumbles, dragging him to a nearby table. They both plop down, and Calum seems to still be transfixed by the head of blonde curls bouncing around as he takes another customers order, his eyes nowhere near Luke.

“So, the reason I called you to come here is because me and Michael had sex sixty times in a row and while we broke a world record, we’re both pregnant and I wanted to ask you if you would be the god parent,” Luke laughs, testing the waters of Calum’s attention.

“Oh yeah sure, totally,” Calum mumbles, chuckling lightly when Ashton sends a small wave his way.

“And you say I’m whipped,” Luke scoffs. “You look at him like he put the damn stars in the sky.” He crosses his arms over his chest, staring at Calum.

“I do not, asshole.” the Maori boy counters indignantly, finally focusing to defend his reputation. “So just tell me why you needed me here, because it probably has something to do with Michael and I want to get that over with.” Calum rushes, before Luke could argue again. He huffs, but obliges.

“I want to ask Michael about his sexuality but I’m scared he’s gonna reject me or tell me I’m going to fast or maybe he’ll just be super hetero and then all of this will go to waste and I just, UGH.” He finishes, slumping down into his chair and rubbing his temples. He was so tired of not knowing anything that was going to happen with Michael, and he just wanted to be able to talk to him. He was such a closed book, which Luke completely understood, he had to be on guard for Ella, but that didn’t make the situation any less complicated. The raven haired boy nods a few times before answering, the switch between Calum and “Uncle Cal” surprisingly evident. Luke is just glad his relationship issues aren’t as complex as his roommate.

“Well, just try leading into it. Don’t be super obvious and ask him if he’s not straight. Bring up your past, talk about other relationships you’ve had with boys and girls like a normal conversation, and see how he responds. Simple as that.” Calum ends, beaming with pride of his own advice.

“Right. Simple.” Luke scoffs.

\--

Luke is almost shaking with anticipation as he waits for Michael to arrive. His eyes flick from Twitter to the time to the door, searching for the familiar blue hair to appear. After what seems like years, he finally spots him, and he almost looks like he’s missing something without Ella nearby. Then Luke realizes that this is the first time he’ll be with Michael completely alone, not even with Ella, and he doesn’t know if that excites or terrifies him. He decides both.

He stands up to greet Michael, waving him over to the little booth next to the window, the one they sat at before. He obliges, striding over to the seat.

“Hey!” he exclaims, leaning in to hug Luke. His eyes widen when he does, scared of how good it makes him feel when he hugs him, but quickly reciprocates the gesture. Before they sit though, Michael stops him.

“It’s so nice out, why don’t we grab some lemonade or something and walk around? Have a change of scenery for once,” Michael chuckles. Luke agrees, and follows the older boy to the queue where he buys them both lemonades, and they head out, walking in no particular direction. They walk in silence for a few moments, just sipping their drinks, and Luke braces himself for awkwardness but it’s surprisingly not. Everything with Michael just feels natural and easy, and Luke’s never felt that with someone. It’s kind of scary. After a couple more minutes, they spot a kid wearing a Superman t-shirt, and soon delve into a debate about who’s the best superhero. They eventually pass by a playground, and now they’re two grown men squashed into swings sipping  lemonade, discussing the difference between Deadpool and Spiderman.

Luke likes this. He likes just being carefree with Michael, not worrying about anything and just having a nice time. He loves their pointless conversations and their easy banter, they just work so well together. Yeah. Luke likes this.

But soon, he remembers what he wanted to ask, and he decides that it’s going to absolutely eat him alive if he doesn’t find out soon how platonic this relationship is.

“So, in between Spiderman and Deadpool, I think I’m Deadpool,” Luke starts. Michael giggles.  
“Oh you are not,”

“Yeah I am! We both are super cool, we both wear a lot of red, and we both like boys!” Luke chances, praying to any and every god out there that this works.

Michael just laughs again. “You don’t even wear that much red.”

 _God damn it,_ Luke mentally punches himself in the face.

“Ha, I guess you’re right. So who are you?” he tries one more time, staring intently at the man (boy) in the swing next to him. He doesn’t answer him right away, just digging his shoes into the mulch underneath them. But then he shocks Luke. The older boy reaches over to the hand Luke had resting in his lap and laced their fingers together gently, so that they were now dangling in between the two swings.

“Yeah, I think I’m Deadpool too.”

\--

Luke floats through the door of his apartment, a dopey grin plastered across his face. Calum walks from the kitchen eating a sandwich, raising an eyebrow, asking how it went.

“He’s Deadpool too!” Luke exclaimed, throwing himself onto the couch.

“Great?” Calum half-questions, leaning against the back of the sofa, motioning for him to explain.

Luke does, diving into their whole get-together, going into extreme detail when he tells him that they held hands.

“You guys are like a middle school couple,” Calum shakes his head with laughter, but does express his excitement for the younger boy. Luke flips him off, but is too happy to let something like Calum’s teasing bother him.

Except for that night.

\--

**to: MICHAEL AKA DEADPOOL [9:30 P.M.]**

 

> hey :) I know we say this everytime but I really did have a fantastic time today. I love our stupid convos, lol

**from: MICHAEL AKA DEADPOOL [9:33 P.M.]**

 

> yeah I guess

Luke stares at his phone in disbelief. What was going on?

**to: MICHAEL AKA DEADPOOL [9:34 P.M.]**

 

> is something wrong?

**from: MICHAEL AKA DEADPOOL [9:37 P.M.]**

 

> no I just have to put Ella to bed bye luke

Luke feels like someone just stabbed him. He feels the tears pricking at the back of his eyes, and he squeezes them shut. What did he do wrong? He finally felt like he had gotten onto the right track, and now it’s like he’s run the train right off the rails.

 

\-- 

hey there pls dont give up on this fic yet itll be cute soon just wait 

leave some love in the comments because why not tell me abt ur day our something or what you love most about luke idc


	4. you're the only thing going on in my mind, taking over my life a second time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> luke & mike just need to talk to each other jeez

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao look @ that ace summary. fun fact i got a way with words award in 5th grade doesnt that just shine through. anyway i started switching pov to make this longer bc i realied just how short 1.2k word chapters are so soz about that these should be nicer and longer. its #angst time lol but you find out some things and yeah. also the thing about releasing chapters 1 by 1 is that if you want to fix something about the story its hard to so i totally forgot to introduce mike and ash as friends but they are and they have been for a while so just go with it lmao. they all kinda know each other. umm title from ugh! by the 1975 (i made it a thing for this fic i guess) and its actually quite fitting so high 5 @me. so its 1 am bc i can only write at ungodly hours so gotta blast but hope you like it lmk what u think !! love u peace out home skillets

~~_Michael_ ~~

He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to do this as at all. He absolutely hated himself with every fiber of his being for doing this, but he had to. It wasn’t at all anything wrong about Luke, in fact quite the opposite. It was the fact that he was too perfect. Him and his stupid compassion and care and sweetness and his damn beautiful hair made Michael’s life too hard. He fell too fast, finding himself teetering on the bridge of love with Luke. He couldn’t fall in love with someone he barely knew, especially with a baby. He absolutely could not afford to be heartbroken while also trying to take care of Ella. Also, there was just too many other things in the way. How does a single father date normally? He rarely doesn’t have Ella with him, so it would be hard to go out and do things besides dinner or whatever. And trusting someone, even Luke, with his baby after knowing him for this short of time? Completely off the table; Michael was too protective over his daughter. The only reason he trusted her babysitter was because he had been friends with her in high school.

Michael didn’t need all these extra complications in his life right now. So he broke it off. He sent Luke a heartless text and refused to speak to him again. Luke texted him back a couple times and tried to ask if anything was wrong, if he could help, and it broke Michael’s heart. But he eventually got the memo and stopped trying to reach out. Michael knew it was breaking Luke, and he felt horrible for not giving him an explanation. But he needed to protect himself and Ella, and this was the easiest way to do that. It might not have been the best, but the easiest. And Michael needed easy.

\--

~~_Luke_ ~~

Luke stomps into the coffee shop, looking sadder than ever. He trudges to the back and carelessly hangs up his coat and keys and mindlessly ties the apron around his waist.

“Someone looks gloomy,” Luke hears, the voice snapping him out of his moping. He sees the familiar head of blonde curls that belongs to his coworker, and rolls his eyes.

“You are quite right.” Luke agrees, pushing past Ashton to get to the cashier stand. Ashton scoffs and follows quickly behind. He wasn’t going to let Luke wallow in whatever self pity he’s concocted all day.

“Hey. Luke. Lukkkeee,” Ashton drawls, waving his hand dramatically in front of the blondes face. He just sighs and pushes his hand away. “What the hell is up your ass today?” Luke leans against the work top, roughly rubbing his hands against his face.

“Michael cut himself off from me and I have no idea what I did,” he blurts. Ashton nods slowly.

“What did he do? Anything specific?” Ashton prods. Luke just hums and pulls out his phone. He shows him the texts, the last few things he sent before he just stopped talking to him. It was killing Luke, knowing that there had to be _some_ reason behind this. He knew Michael just enough to know he wasn’t so irrational that he would randomly decide he didn’t like Luke anymore. But really, Luke was more upset of what he possibly did to Michael than what Michael did to him. He was afraid that he came on too fast, that he scared Michael, that he somehow hurt Ella. The fact that he might’ve upset Michael in anyway terrifies him, and he just wants to know what he did.

Ashton reads the texts with a furrowed brow, taking in all of the information. He hands Luke’s phone back to him.

“I just feel so fucking bad,” Luke whines. “What if I really hurt him?” Ashton sets a hand lightly on Luke’s arm for support.

“If I can take anything from what Michael’s told me or your guys’ texts, I can deduce that it probably wasn’t really you.” Ashton explains. Luke squints, trying to understand. Ashton tries again.

“Listen. I’ve known Michael for a while, and he has some issues with things like this, leaving people because he’s afraid more of the _idea_ of the person than the actual person. So I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate you. I won’t tell you his story because it’s not mine to tell, but I can say that he’s been through some shit. But it also isn’t right for him to just leave you like this. I’m actually headed over to his place right now to babysit Ella, so I’ll talk to him then. Is that cool?” Ashton proclaims. Luke’s nods furiously, almost ecstatic at the news that there was a chance that Michael didn’t hate him.

“Yeah, that’s great. Thanks Ash, you’re the best.” Luke smiles, bro-hugging him.

“Anytime,” Ash giggles, making his way towards the door.

“Hey, for this, I might give you Calum’s number!” Luke calls after him. Ashton just flips him off. But Luke doesn’t care.

Michael possibly doesn’t hate him!

\--

~~_Michael_ ~~

“Hey baby girl, how are you?” Michael says in a high-pitched voice, picking Ella up out of her crib and settling her on his hip. “Are you all rested from your sleepy time?” he asks in a funny voice, and Ella squeaks her beautiful squeaky laugh, clapping her chubby hands. Michael could not think of a single thing that he loved more than Ella’s laugh. _You love Lu-_ Michael shook his head, trying to think about something else. The damn barista kept popping into his mind and he couldn’t get it to stop. He hated so much that without even trying, Luke could completely control his thoughts to be about him. He just hated the effect that Luke had on him. He shook his head once more and heads toward the kitchen, and starts to prepare a bottle. Sticking the bottle in the microwave, he dances around the small kitchen, bounding Ella up and down to make her giggle. It works. Michael grins widely and plants a kiss on her forehead.

“So are you ready to hang out with Uncle Ash today? Daddy’s gotta go to work and our babysitter can’t come today,” Michael coos, and Ella claps in approval. He had been working as a manager at the music store – it wasn’t much, but his boss was extremely gracious towards him and his situation and often gave bonuses, and he also gave guitar lessons, and that was enough to take care of him and Ella. He had been trying to take classes at the local university for music teaching, but life often got in the way. But it was okay, he was fine.

Michael smiles at Ella and wooshes her over to her high chair when he hears it beep. He opens the microwave door and tests the bottle with his finger. Once he decides it a proper temperature, he passes it over to his daughter.

“Drink up, princess!” he exclaims. He was about to head to his room to go get dressed, he hears his phone buzz on the counter. He grabs it and notices a text from Ashton.

**from: Ashtonio [9:02 A.M.]**

 

> im about to leave the shop to come hang with Ella, but I gotta ask, what did you do to Luke?

Michael groans, running his hand roughly through his disheveled hair. He had finally forgotten about Luke for two seconds, and Ashton had to just go and remind him. He thinks about just not texting him back, but knowing the curly-headed boy he’d just badger him when he got here.

**to: Ashtonio [9:04 A.M.]**

 

> i just kind of lost contact with him, why?

Maybe if he acted nonchalant about it, he would leave him alone.

**from: Ashtonio [9:04 A.M.]**

 

> well according to luke you texted him something apathetic and then completely cut yourself off.. he thinks you absolutely hate his guts.

Shit.

**to: Ashtonio [9:05 A.M.]**

 

> yeah I guess

**from: Ashtonio [9:05 A.M.]**

 

> why Michael? u need some help with this, you cant do this on your own

**to: Ashtonio [9:05 A.M.]**

yeah I can

**from: Ashtonio [9:06 A.M.]**

 

> mike, I know you feel like you have to fix everything on your own, but you cant. when I get over there, we are going to talk this out. you have an hour until work, so you have no choice sorry bud

Michael groaned again and tossed his phone onto the couch. Fighting with Ashton was like arguing with a brick wall, so he gave up.

\--

A few minutes later, Ashton flings open Michael’s door.

“Honey, I’m home,” he hollers. Michael rushes past him towards the door.

“I really have to run, there was an emergency at work,” he says in a rushed tone. “Ella’s in her crib, she’s already had her bottle—” Ashton steps in front of the blue-haired boy, putting his hand up.

“Wait. We were gonna talk about this whole Luke situation,” Ashton says, seeing right through his ruse. Michael hates that he can do that.

“I told you I have an emergency at work,” he tries, too stubborn to give in.

“An emergency? At the music shop? What happened, the guitars caught the flu?” Ashton jokes, and Michael frowns. “We have like 45 minutes before you have to leave, so we are going to sit down and you are going to talk to me,” Ashton orders, pointing towards the couch. The younger boy listens and stomps towards the couch.

“Okay, _dad_ ,” he mumbles.

“I heard that!” Ashton hollers. He plops down next to Michael and puts his feet up on the coffee table. “So what’s wrong?” Michael sighs and slides himself down so only his back butt is on the sofa.

“It was just too complicated okay? I can’t deal with a full time job and a child _and_ a boyfriend. Also, I just have a really hard time trusting people, you know that.” Michael half-heartedly explains. Ashton nods.

“it’s just, when she told me she was pregnant, I stepped in because obviously what decent person wouldn’t, I never thought she would just leave me with Ella. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ella more than absolutely anything, I just, it’s so hard to trust _anyone_ anymore. She fucking screwed me up man,” Michael whimpers, wiping violently at his eyes that had begun to collect tears. Ashton’s heart broke, and he pulled Michael into his chest, squeezing him tight.

“No, I get it. I know she did, Mike. It’s okay,” Ashton reassured, rocking him gently back in forth.

“And also, I really just couldn’t do that to Luke. He’s such a good person, I couldn’t pull him down with my weight of Ella and my uselessness and my inability to trust, and just how fucking unlovable I am,” he sniffs, multiple droplets rolling down his rosy cheeks.

“No Michael, stop. You are not unlovable, okay? Look at me.” Ashton turns Michael’s head so that he’s looking him in the eye. “You are so sweet and nice and the most compassionate and sympathetic and loving person I have _ever_ met, and I’m almost positive Luke thinks so too. You should’ve seen how heartbroken he was this morning. He thought he had completely ruined it between you two. And he was so upset not for himself, but because he thought that he had offended or hurt you somehow. He doesn’t think you’re unlovable, and neither do I.” Ashton rambles, planting a soft kiss on Michael’s forehead. Now Michael just feels awful. He wraps his arms around Ashton’s lean torso and hugs tightly, and he hugs back. He hates that he had caused Luke this pain that he did not deserve at all. More than anything, he hates that he wasn’t more honest with Luke, and also himself. He has to make this right. He looks at his phone. He had ten minutes before he has to get to work, but decides that talking to Luke was more important.

“I think I’m gonna skip work and go talk to Luke. Can you still watch Ella?” Michael asks sheepishly, wiping the snot off his nose. Ashton’s eyes widen.

“Yes, I can! That’s perfect! Are you sure you want to right now, though?”

“Yeah, I am. I kinda want to tell him my story too.” Michael sniffs. The older boy furrows his eyebrows.

“Are you really sure? You haven’t known him for very long.” Michael nods slowly. He had to do this now or he feels like he’ll never get another chance with Luke. Plus, he wants to start this new relationship on pure honesty.

“Positive.”

\--

Michael shuffles in to the quaint coffee shop, inhaling the bittersweet smell of coffee beans. He peeks at his phone and remembers that Luke is on break in ten minutes. He walks slowly up to the counter, prepared to order coffee. He secretly wishes for Luke to take his order, but is also slightly relieved when it’s Calum. They knew each other by association, so it wasn’t too awkward, but the Maori boy’s eyes do light up with recognition when he sees Michael.

“Oh, hey, Mike! What can I get for you?” Calum asks.

“Can I just have a plain black coffee?” he orders.

“Sure! Will that be all for ya?” the barista asks, accepting Michael’s debit card. Michael thinks for a moment.

“Actually, can I also have a mocha?” he was proud of himself for remembering Luke’s regular drink.

“Sure!” Calum says, swiping his card and giving it back. “It’ll be out in a sec,” he says with a smile.

“Um, could you, uh, possibly let Luke know I’m here? Tell him he doesn’t have to rush, just when he’s on break.” Michael adds on quickly, not wanting to be a nuisance. Calum promises he will and Michael thanks him, and he finds the booth that he and Luke used to occupy whenever they came here. He scrolls through his phone mindlessly, picks up his drinks when Calum calls him, and just waits for Luke. He has to convince himself many times that he shouldn’t just dash out now, but Luke taking a while isn’t really helping that decision.

Finally, the familiar blonde comes bounding out of the back, his cerulean eyes searching wildly for Michael. They finally land on him, and he smiles brightly, walking cautiously over towards him. He stands next to the booth, asking with his eyes if he could sit. The older boy understands and motions for him to sit. Luke slides into the brown booth, and looks at Michael expectantly.

“I bought you coffee. It’s your favorite – a mocha right?” Michael squeaks, slightly embarrassed. Luke nods and smiles sheepishly.

“You’re right. So…” Luke starts, fiddling with the lid on his coffee cup, obviously unsure of where this was going.

 “I just wanted to apologize,” Michael blurts, staring at the table. “Ashton told me what was going on and I just feel so so bad because me leaving didn’t really have anything to do with you. Well it did, but it didn’t. I mean—”

“No I get it, its fine. Ashton kind of explained that you were more afraid of the idea of me than me as a person,” Luke saves Michael. He chuckles. Ashton did always have a better way with words than he did.

“Yeah, that’s right. Where would any of us be without Ashton,” Michael ponders, and Luke agrees, laughing lightly.

“I just, I have a lot of trust issues for a lot of reasons, and I haven’t dated since I’ve had Ella, so it was just a lot to take in. And I’m really sorry. That still doesn’t really excuse my actions.” Michael apologizes, cheeks burning. With regret more so than embarrassment.

“No, I totally understand. I was just afraid that I had hurt you or Ella somehow, or I made you uncomfortable. I would never want to do that.” Luke sighs, and scoots his hand next to Michael’s on the table, raising his eyebrows as if to ask if it were okay. Michael nods and ends up just grabbing Luke’s hand and squeezing, catching Luke off guard. He was going to need it for what he was about to talk about. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself. He absolutely hates telling his story, hates opening up to people, but to Luke, it kind of feels okay. Like he’s safe.

“I also kinda wanted to explain why I’m in the situation I’m in, I wanted to tell you my story, I guess,” Michael speaks quietly, as if he doesn’t want Luke to hear. Luke raises his eyebrows in shock, obviously not expecting this meet up or whatever this was to go in this direction.

“You really don’t have to. The last thing I want to do is make you feel pressured like you _have_ to tell me your story or else we can’t talk to each other.” Luke stresses. God, this boy was so perfect, Michael’s heart swells. He suddenly feels a burst of confidence that Luke undoubtedly provided.

“No, I want to. I want to start off this “relationship” right, on total honest. And don’t worry, you’re not pushing me. I feel safe talking to you,” he admits. Luke smiles and squeezes his hand. He breaths in deeply, and begins.

“So, let’s preface this story with the fact that I’m pansexual, but lean heavily towards the male side,” he jokes. Luke chuckles slightly.

“So, one day, about a year ago, I get a call from this girl named Rachel telling me that she’s pregnant, and it’s my child. I was totally in shock, and frankly didn’t believe her, but I looked back through my phone and found texts to and from that number, and realized that this Rachel was a girl I had had a drunken hook up with about seven months prior. I then agreed to go with her to get a paternal test, because I’m a fairly good person, and they revealed it – well, Ella – was in fact mine.” Michael pauses to breath, and Luke rubs soothing circles over his hand.

“So, like any decent person would, I told her I would be there to help. And so for the next two months, we kind of planned out how it would work. We would both be regular figures in her life, but not really ever be together, if that makes sense. We just didn’t want the baby to miss out on having two parents just because we weren’t together. And we had kind of become friends in the process. So, when Rachel went into labor, I went with her, and she gave birth to Ella. I stayed with Rachel in the hospital, but on the last day of her stay, she told me to go get her the papers to sign out of the hospital or whatever. So I did, but when I came back, Ella was just lying on the bed, crying. There was a note next to her that just said only said _I’m sorry_.” Michael wiped his already wet eyes, the memory vivid in his mind like it only happened this morning. This time Luke gets up and slides in the side next to Michael, snaking his arm around his waist. Michael buries his head against Luke’s shoulder.

“You really don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to. Really, it’s okay. You can tell me another day.” Luke worries, rubbing his side lightly for comfort.

“No, I promise, I want to finish. So, I was kind of in shock and had no idea what to do, so I called Rachel like 400 times, and she only picked up once, the last time, she just said she couldn’t do it and that she was sorry before she disconnected her phone number or something. All I know is that her number didn’t work anymore and I was left alone, an immature single guy in his young twenties, who now had the responsibility of a newborn. So I took her in, and now here we are, ten months later. We still struggle a lot, but it’s Michael and Ella against the world.” Michael finishes, sniffing and chuckling. Luke is silent for a moment, before untangling them to look at the blue haired boy.

“Wow. Just – wow.” He says, a tinge of disbelief in his voice. “That’s the bravest thing I’ve heard anyone ever tell me,” he says. Michael just shrugs, staring at his hands in his lap. “No, I’m serious. Michael, that’s amazing. You didn’t have to tell me that but you did, and I’m so thankful that you trust me with that,” Michael nods, his face lighting up a bit.

“Thanks, that really means the world to me. I really, really appreciate it.” Michael thanks, and Luke just smiles warmly. “Also, while we’re on the topic of trust, I want to just tell you a few things. I have a lot of issues with trust what with the whole Rachel thing, so if I ever come off like I don’t trust you, that’s just gonna be my old habits of pushing people out kicking in. It’s just hard you know?” the older boy confides. Luke nods furiously.

“No, I totally understand. You just gotta communicate with me, okay? Tell me if I ever scare you or if you’re ever worried about something. I promise I won’t judge you or anything. I’m very patient, too. God, I have to be, I work at a coffee shop and am roommates with Calum,” Luke jokes. Michael giggles, amazed that Luke can at the same time let him know he can confide in him for anything, but also make the situation twenty times happier.

“Okay, I’ll try. I’ll try this whole ‘communicating’ thing now, and asking, do you like me?” Michael’s just full of courage today. Luke ponders for a second.

“Yeah. I do. I really, really do, actually. And I don’t like you any less because of Ella or anything about you. I like _you._ ” Luke clarifies, and Michael is ecstatic, grinning a grin that reaches to his ears. He really chose the right person.

“And I must say, Mr. Hemmings, I quite like you as well,” he says, glad to be in a lighter mood. “But also, can I just ask we take this kinda slow? Again, I’ve not dated since I’ve had Ella, so this is brand new to me. And my commitment issues aren’t just totally gone either,” Michael asks. He was scared to ask this, but now that he knows how accepting Luke is he isn’t at all scared.

“Oh of course, Michael. You _are_ the one with the tiny human, so we can take this however slow you want to. We’ll do this at your pace.” Luke chuckles, remembering his conversation with Calum and making a mental note to thank him later. Luke makes a daring move though. He leans in close to Michael, their noses inches away. Michael’s stomach flips with excited anticipation. “I must ask, may I kiss you?” Michael nods furiously and closes the gap between them, pushing their lips together. The kiss was gentle but passionate, slow but hungry. Michael hadn’t kissed anyone in a long time, but he knew that this was the best one he’s ever had, by far. Neither of them even cared that they were in the middle of a coffee shop still. Right now, they were the only two people on the planet. After not long enough, Luke disconnects their lips for air, and Michael whines. Luke laughs and laces their fingers together.

“Ya know, when you work in a coffee shop, you hear some pretty cool coffee puns. So, I like you a latte.” Luke snickers, and Michael rolls his eyes but secretly thought that it was adorable. And for the first time, Michael is realizing just how much Rachel leaving has really positively impacted him. Not only did he have a beautiful baby that he loved more than anything, he also was introduced to Luke, the barista he met in a café bathroom, who is slowly making their way to the top of Michael’s list of things that he loves a lot.

“I guess I like you a latte too.”

 

\--

 

love u all lots and lots comment nice things and tell me your favorite michael hair color and why :-)


	5. it's just you and i tonight, why don't you figure my heart out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> muke clemmings!!!!!!!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHTY here i am with a brand new chapter and its so cute and actually the best sO. I know this started out as only Luke's pov but then i started switching and sorry for how random the switches are, i just do it when it feels like i can get the most writing or understanding of feelings out of them ya know?? also i like writing from Luke's perspective more idk why just a #fun fact. so things happen in this & its adorable and yes i know its not the best idea in the world to take a 10 month old to the beach but i cant change her age because it has to do with the story so just go with it ok ok. again sorry ive never actually posted anything before like 12:30 am im the worst rip. anyway title from heart out by the 1975 and im glad i chose that band for titles because their lyrics fit this story almost perfectly so good job @ me. enjoy !! 
> 
> alsoooo, pls let me know how you feel about smut bc i really need to know for like v soon chapters and i dont want to do it if no one would enjoy it/ feel uncomfortable so pls pls tell me. thanks frineds!!!

_~~Michael~~ _

 

“Are you excited, baby girl?” Michael coos, looking at Ella in her car seat in through his rearview mirror. “We’re going to Lukey’s for the first time!” He loves using that nickname, even if it’s just to his unassuming baby. His daughter claps, flinging around her chubby limbs. Michael chuckles and pulls into the parking lot for Luke’s apartment building and hopping out. He opens the door to the backseat and starts fiddling with the car seat. He hated the damn thing; no matter how long he’s had it he could never figure out how to undo it. It’s especially embarrassing when he’s in a public place and really can’t figure it out, and he has to get some soccer mom to help him free his daughter from its hellish grasp. After cursing under his breath a few times, he finally untangles Ella and hoists her onto his hip and grabbing her baby bag, choosing to forgo his signature baby carrier. They were just going to Luke’s. _Going to Luke’s._ He loved that he could just casually hang out with him.

They had been doing this thing, whatever it was, for about three weeks now, and they had gone to the coffee shop so many times that they were both a little burned out on the hot drink after meeting for it every day, so Luke had decided to invite them over to his place. Michael quickly agreed, but was admittedly a little scared. He had never really taken Ella to anyone else’s house before, besides his parents or like, Ashton’s. He knew that he was going to be with her, but it just kind of worried him due to his overprotective nature. But due to Luke and Michael both agreeing that their relationship thingy be based on honesty, Michael expressed his concerns, and Luke completely understood, as usual. He promised that his house was safe, and that she would be watched at all times, so they agreed to meet up the next Sunday, the day both of them were off. And then Michael made out with him for like 30 minutes but that’s beside the point.

Michael ambles inside, making his way to the elevator. He absolutely hates elevators, but he was not about to go out of his way to walk four flights of stairs holding a twenty pound child. So he gets in, letting Ella hit the number four button, (then using a wet wipe on her hands) chuckling at how in awe she was at the lit up circle. They make it to Luke’s door, knocking a few times then waiting. He hears a door slam open, a muffled, _I got it Cal!,_ and then a crash. Michael snickers; of course Luke would fall on his way to opening the door. Suddenly, the door opens, and Luke is standing there in all of his sleepy glory.

“Hey!” he greets. Michael’s smile falters for a half a second as he looks (gawks) at the boy standing in front of him. He had obviously just jumped out of bed, something Michael was oddly endeared by. The younger boys usually perfect blonde fringe is a mess, sticking out in all different directions, his cobalt eyes hazy hazy with sleep – or lack thereof. Luke also is not wearing a shirt, and the gray sweats he has on hang dangerously low, and Michael has to block out some thoughts that he shouldn’t even be _thinking_ around a 10 month old. Why does he adore this damn guy so much?

 _~~Luke~~ _ ~~~~

_Fuck, he looks good_ , is the first thing that pops into Luke’s head when he yanks open the door, revealing his blue haired (possibly) boyfriend and his child. Luke figured that he probably wasn’t going to show up in street clothes, but he hadn’t realized that he hadn’t seen him in just lounge clothes until today. He looks unusually good for someone just in joggers, the tight-ish sweats accentuating Michael’s fantastic legs. He’s strangely attracted to the holey band tee the older boy is sporting, it just makes him look so comfy and homely – Luke just wants to hug him and never let go. Except to maybe kiss him. Or maybe – NOPE he’s in the presence of a tiny child. So Luke stops drooling and actually invites him into his home. He steps in, and looks around.

“Oh my God, you baby proofed your apartment?” Michael laughs as he sets down the baby bag next to the couch, and Luke’s cheeks burn with embarrassment. When Michael came to him to say that he was nervous, he wanted to do whatever he could to help, but that was obviously weird.

“Sorry, I guess that’s strange, I just wanted –” the older boy cuts him off, his face bright.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that at all! That’s actually probably the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me, I really appreciate it.”  Michael leans in and pecks Luke’s cheek. It’s a little awkward leaning over Ella, but it’s adorable all the same. Luke blushes once again, but this time in a good way, a small smile appearing. “Thank you, really.”

_~~Michael~~ _

Michael’s in love. He hates himself for it, he really does, it’s been less than a month. But he is. As soon as he walks in, the first thing he sees is everything pointy or harmful either had pieces of pool noodles stuck on the corners, or they were moved to a higher surface, and there was a little gate blocking the entrance to the kitchen. The boy fucking baby proofed his house for him, and he was in love.

“Damn, pool noodles, why didn’t I think of that,” Michael mumbles to himself as he sits down with Ella on his lap next to Luke on the couch. Luke just chuckles, flipping on the TV.

“I found it on Pinterest if we’re being honest here,” Luke admits, looking at Michael with a glint in his eye. “I actually found a lot of good tips and tricks and stuff, I can send you them if you want.” Michael giggles, agreeing to take a look. He literally took the time out of his day to look at Pinterest and find ideas for him. How considerate can one human be? Michael’s heart swells.

“So what do you want to do?” Luke asks.

“Just chilling and watching TV is fine, I’m actually a bit tired,” Michael yawns. Luke agrees, and they decide on just watching Spongebob, “for Ella”, but they both knew that they were watching it because they wanted to. Ella sits and studies the television for a bit, but soon gets antsy. Michael tries to settle her in different positions, but nothing satiates the child. She starts crawling off of Michael and towards Luke, and Luke looks at him with raised eyebrows, as if asking permission.

“Yeah go ahead, it’s totally fine,” Michael allows. He didn’t have to ask, he was just going to hold her. But he did. He curses yet thanks the universe for granting him such a beautiful person he was so underserving of. Once Luke gets the greenlight, he hoists Ella into his lap and makes funny faces at her, and her signature laugh rings angelically though the apartment. Michael watches dotingly as Luke grabs the toy lion out of the baby bag and starts to make it dance in front of Ella, no longer paying attention to the TV. She giggled uncontrollably as Luke played with it, making grabby hands. Luke teased her, pulling the toy back every time he got it close to her reach, and she huffs in concentration. Eventually he allows her to have it, and she grabs it and holds on tight. Luke beams and pulls her to his chest and starts to sing to her under his breath, a little tune Michael can’t place a name to. It was absolutely the most endearing thing Michael has ever seen. Ella seems to be just blissful, her eyes closed but a tiny small played at her lips, and Michael’s heart simply can’t take it. Stupid, unmanly tears of fondness start to burn his eyes, and he sniffs. Luke notices the small noise, looking over at Michael who was wiping his eyes.

“Are you crying?” Luke asks, a tinge of concern painting his voice.

“No it’s just allergi- no you know what I’m not even gonna lie you guys are so cute and it just makes my heart burst,” Michael laughs nasally, wiping his nose. Luke chuckles, and watches the baby, his gaze full of affection.

“We are, aren’t we?” Luke coos, and winks at Michael. The blue haired boy has a feeling of such happiness and contentment when he looks at Luke and Ella, especially together, that he can’t contain it anymore.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Michael blurts, his hand instantly flies to his mouth, realizing that maybe he should’ve thought before he springs that question onto Luke. Luke’s cheeks turn an impressive shade of red, but he doesn’t stop smiling. Damn, this boy is confusing. Michael is about to apologize and take back the offer before the blonde speaks.

“Yeah, I’d like that. I’d really like that,” Luke assures, a grin overtaking his beautiful face. Michael mirrors the facial expression, leaning over Ella to plant a kiss on Luke’s plump lips. They both are still smiling into the kiss at first, but ease into it. When Michael leans back to end it, Luke uses his hand that’s not holding a baby and grabs Michael’s neck, pulling him back in. Michael slips his tongue into Luke’s mouth, licking his bottom lip. Luke shivers, and Michael loves it. He loves making Luke feel good. Michael grabs the blonde’s cheeks and kisses hard, before disconnecting. They lean their foreheads against the others, laughing.

“That was pretty inappropriate to do while you’re holding my ten month old,” Michael chuckles. Luke does the same, his eyes doing that adorable scrunchy thing. “But now it’s okay, because you’re my _boyfriend._ ” Luke nods, his face warm with a smile, and pecks Michael on the lips before leaning back.

“We sure are,” Luke agrees, cradling Ella, who miraculously fell asleep during this ordeal.

“Hey, you know what we should do to celebrate us dating officially?” Michael asks, a great idea popping into his mind.

“What?”

“Let’s go to the beach!” The blue haired boy looks at his phone, checking for the time. “It’s fifteen till noon, so by the time she wakes up in about an hour and gets a bottle, we can head that way and stay for a couple hours!” Michael exclaims, proud of himself for thinking of this.

“Sounds like a great idea!” Luke nods, kissing the sleeping child’s forehead gently.

“I wanna go to the beach!” Michael and Luke hear from the kitchen, both sharing an equally confused look before Calum popped his head out of the doorway leading to the kitchen. When did he get here? “I woke up and went to the kitchen while you guys were sucking face and was grabbing food,” he shrugs, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “So, beach?” he asks. Luke smiles sheepishly at Michael, asking telepathically if that was cool. Michael just shrugged and nodded. He honestly didn’t mind as long as Luke was there.

“Yeah that’s fine! We should invite Ash too,” Michael suggests, and Calum chokes on his cereal. Luke and Michael share a knowing Luke before laughing.

“Yep, sounds great. I’ll go get ready,” Calum gags through fits of coughing. He tosses his bowl into the sink – even though he wasn’t done – and sprints back to his room.

“This’ll be good,” Luke sighs as Michael nods, pulling his phone out to text their friend.

\--

“Alright, is everybody ready?” Michael hollers, hoisting Ella farther up his hip. The other three guys come wandering into the front room with a chorus of yes’s. “Sweet! To the beach!” he calls, leading the way towards his car. The rest follow, Luke next to him holding his free hand, and Calum and Ashton behind them, not able to decide whether to walk next to each other or not. The two had been dancing around their feelings for each other for weeks, always complaining to Luke or Michael about their inability to communicate. Michael was proud of himself that he found a time to force them to be together and possibly figure whatever this was out.

They all pile in to Michael’s car, and Luke called shotgun, so now Ashton and Calum are arguing over who has to sit in the middle seat since Ella’s car seat took up a spot. Calum eventually was forced to sit in it, squished between a plastic seat and the boy he liked, because Ashton’s thighs were “too thick to be contained by that tiny spot.” Michael and Luke just roll their eyes through the whole ordeal – they acted like fucking school kids.

Finally, they got on their way, and it was already a blast. Michael in the car with all of his best friends and his boyfriend, playing good music (not too loud as to not disturb Ella), and just having a good time. Once they reach the beach, Michael pops the trunks so they could get out their things, and starts to fiddle with Ella’s car seat. He could not figure out how to do it for the life of him, and was about to scream when Luke saunters over. He easily unclicks it with ease, winking at Michael. He just stares.

“That’s what boyfriends are for,” Luke smiles, grabbing Ella’s stroller from the back and bringing it around for Michael. The older boy grins and thanks him before leaning up to press a soft kiss to Luke’s lips. He hoists Ella out of the seat and onto his hip, and they were ready. They look over at Calum and Ashton who very much were not. They were still trying to grab things out of the trunk, but were so awkward that they kept bumping into each other and apologizing. Luke and Michael roll their eyes before intervening.

“Oh for fuc-fudge’s sake, just get your bags and come on! And hand me my backpack,” Michael rushes. The two nod but blush, and Ash tosses Michael his backpack. They finally make their way towards the ocean, and decide to walk for a bit to find a secluded part. Michael laces his fingers with Luke’s and swings their hands as they walk. It was hardly ideal, with Michael holding Ella and his heavy backpack with her things, and Luke lugging a stroller and a string bag, but it was nice so they just went with it. The other two idiots had gotten somewhere, having stricken conversation, but they kept awkwardly bumping hands and jerking them back.

“Do you think we should help?” Luke leans in and whispers. Michael shakes his head.

“Nah, if they don’t figure it out on their own they’ll never understand each other, ya know?” Michael says. Luke raises his eyebrows, nodding.

“I didn’t know I was dating a philosopher,” Luke laughs.

“Oh shut up,” Michael blushes, bumping his shoulder against the younger boy.

Miraculously, they find a mostly empty strip of beach, save for a couple others. Michael hands Ella to Luke momentarily as he unfurls the blanket and sets up the umbrella he brought. As he works, he looks over to find Luke singing to Ella again and bouncing softly and Michael smiles warmly. _Why do they have to be so damn cute?_ Luke notices him watching and winks at him, never stopping his singing. He looks over to where Calum and Ashton are looking through their things, confused.

“Is something wrong?” Michael ponders. They look up.

“Did we only bring two blankets?” Ashton asks.

“Oh yeah, those were the only two we could find big enough for people to lay on. You guys can just lay together,” Michael answers, smirking. He didn’t even do that on purpose, really. They both just nod slowly, and lay it on the sand. When they all shimmy off their shirts, Michael notices Ashton and Calum watching each other. _These two are so fucking oblivious,_ Michael thinks.

After what seems like forever, they all get situated. Michael wiggles some tiny goggles onto Ella’s head, and slide small floaties onto her arms. Luke giggles.

“Hey! Safety first! She’s my child!” Michael defends, pointing an accusatory finger at his boyfriend.

“Okay, okay!” Luke snickers, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Once they’re all ready, they head towards the cerulean water. Ashton bets Calum that he can’t skip as fast as him, and Calum of course disagrees, so the two dipshits take off, skipping as fast as they can. Luke and Michael take their time, reconnecting their hands. Michael smiles warmly up at him.

_~~Luke~~ _

Luke can’t believe he’s fallen so fast for this guy. He’s dated others here and there, claimed that he loved him, but never felt it this deeply and sure as hell not this fast. Just, whenever he was around the blue haired boy he felt content and relaxed and good and just purely happy. Michael was funny, sweet, compassionate, and always put others before himself – especially his daughter. He just was so caring and loving and it made Luke feel so special that he put in so much of that love towards him. He loves Michael, and he wants to tell him so badly, but he doesn’t want to scare him. They also had agreed that they would move mostly at Michael’s pace. So he kept quiet.  Luke leans himself against the shorter boy slightly, kissing the top of his head softly as they strolled towards the ocean.

“I really lo-like you, ya know,” he whispers, his voice almost completely muffled by Michael’s soft hair. He’s almost glad, hoping that he doesn’t catch his mistake.

“I really like you too, Lukey,” his boyfriend reciprocates, squeezing his hand. Luke’s stomach flutters at the use of that nickname. _Lukey._

They finally reach the water, and Michael plops down onto the shore, spreading his legs so Ella could sit and play between them. Luke sits down next to him, knocking their knees together. Michael looks at him.

“You don’t have to just sit here with us; you can actually go into the water with Cal and Ash. I can just chill here with Ella,” Michael asks. Luke just shakes his head and scoots closer, grabbing one of Ella’s sand molds and filling it with the sticky substance.

“I’d rather do nothing more than sit her with you guys.” Luke proclaims, and Michael just smiles at the ground, but Luke can see him blushing.

“Besides, Cal and Ash are like one base away from having sex in the middle of the water and I’m not about that life,” Luke laughs, and they watch as the two splash each other but also get unusually close, touching each other’s chests. Michael throws his head back laughing, and Luke decides it’s one of his favorite sounds. Luke turns his attention back to the sand mold he was filling, and finally plops it down onto the sand, waving his arm in a grandeur motion.

“Voila! My masterpiece, a dog made of sand!” the blonde announces, laughing at the sad tiny dog looking thing that was starting to fall apart.

“You’re such a nerd,” Michael cackles, but begins to fill a different sand mold. He shakes it out, and it’s a bone.

“A sand bone for the sand dog!” Michael exclaims. Ella takes a look at the pieces of art and claps her hands, hiccupping as she giggles.

“Daddy! Dog!” She cries, looking at Michael, whose eyes are wide with surprise, and so are Luke’s.

“She just said her first words,” Michael deadpans, in disbelief. Luke beams, grabbing his hand.

“Dude, she just said her first words!” Luke hollers. He was so ecstatic that he got to share this moment with Michael.

“She just said her first words!” Michael repeats, squeezing his hand before grabbing Ella and standing up and holding her in the air, kissing all over her face. She just giggles and kicks. Luke, not wanting to intervene, stands there with a grin, but Michael thinks otherwise.

“Come here,” Michael says, motioning with his head. Luke walks over and wraps his arm around his boyfriend’s waist and kisses Ella’s forehead. This moment feels so nice, like it’s just the two of them in the world, sharing this adorable memory. After a bit, they all untangle from each other. “Let’s go play in the water!” Michael exclaims, leading the way into the water, still clutching Luke’s hand. The blonde follows with a dopy grin on his face. They wade over to Ash and Calum (who were about six inches from kissing) and share the news. They all celebrate, and splash in the water. (“See Luke? Goggles. I’m a genius.”) Michael squats, holding Ella so that she can pretend to swim. The moment is so endearing, Luke just watches. Yeah, he’s in love.

\--

Once they’re all tuckered out from the water, they make it back to their little camp. They dry off and retire to their blankets. Michael pulls out the pillow he brought for him and Luke and flops down onto it, lying an exhausted Ella on his chest, who immediately falls asleep. Luke grabs  two waters from the cooler they brought and sits down, handing one to Michael who accepts it graciously. Luke lies down on the blanket, forgoing the pillow and laying his head on Michael’s chest and wrapping an arm around his waist. Luke can hear his heart rate speed up at the notion, and it makes Luke feel good that Michael is just as emotionally stimulated by this relationship as he is. Michael plants his lips on Luke’s blonde head, rubbing his side with his free hand. The moment was so blissful, just lying together and watching the sun slowly begin to set. Luke had never felt so carefree and relaxed in his life, being with the two people he cared about the most, in such a beautiful environment. But when he cranes his head to look up at Michael who’s watching the sky intently, he decides that Michael is even more radiant than any sunsets he’s seen and will ever see.

\--

Luke’s eyes flutter open, not having realized he had fallen asleep. Judging by the sun hanging dangerously low in the orange-pink sky, it had only been for about a half an hour. He looks around and sees Ashton and Calum on the other blanket, unconsciously spooning. Luke chuckles quietly to himself, anticipating watching that play out once they wake up. He looks back at his boyfriend and watches him sleep, and it’s the most endearing thing ever. Looking completely at peace as he snores quietly, his long eyelashes fanned out over his rosy cheeks. He has a tiny smile on his lips as he holds the two people he loves most close to him. Luke wants to freeze and live in this moment forever. But as much as he’d like to do that, they need to get home. He pokes Michael’s cheek, cooing his name. After a couple times, the older boy wakes, confused for half a second, but smiles when he sees who’s waking him up.

“Hey Lukey,” Michael rasps, shutting his eyes again.

“Hi Mikey,” Luke whispers, kissing his cheek softly. “We should probably head home, it’s getting late.” Michael nods, holding Ella still with one hand as he props himself up with the other.

“Sounds good. Where’s Cal and Ash?” Michael wonders. Luke jerks his head towards the two cuddling on the blanket, and Michael just laughs. “You go wake them up, I’ll start cleaning up.”

“I can take Ella if you want,” Luke offers, and Michael places the sleeping baby in his arms. Luke strides over to the blanket with the faux couple and squats down, poking the big spoon (Calum) in the back.

“Hey lovebirds, wake up. We’re heading home.” Luke says. The two open their eyes, and Ashton rubs his eyes. Calum gasps and sits up quickly, face burning.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. Ashton just chuckles.

“No, it’s okay. It was nice actually,” Ashton breathes. Luke couldn’t believe that they were actually making somewhat of a move. He stretches himself back out and walks back over to Michael who had finished packing everything up. They sat as they waited for Ash and Cal, and then they were on the way.

Once they made it back to the car, Michael offers for them to just all crash at his place, since he has a guest bedroom and a couch. All too tired to argue, they agree and drive back to Michael’s.

They make it to Michael’s apartment, leaving all their things in the car to deal with tomorrow. Michael tosses a pair of sweats and band tees to all the guys for them to borrow and states that he’s going to put Ella down to sleep. Calum and Ashton (not so) suspiciously both head to the guest room together, and Luke goes to Michael’s room to change. He shimmies into his given clothing, hugging it tight around him. He loved the thought that he was wearing his boyfriend’s things.

He decides to go see Michael, and heads over to Ella’s room. Luke leans against the doorway and watches as he rocks back in forth in the pink rocking chair, gazing lovingly at his daughter. He notices Luke in the room, and stands up, smiling. He motions with his head to come over. Luke does so cautiously, unaware of his boundaries. They obviously really liked each other and were quite comfortable with things like this, but Luke was always careful when doing new things pertaining to Ella. He just didn’t want to freak Michael out. When he makes it over to the crib, standing over it, the older boy lays Ella sweetly into Luke’s arms, motioning for him to put her to bed. Luke grins, cherishing the sweet moment. He looks at Michael whose eyes are filled with fondness, and he nods. The blonde leans over the edge of the crib and lays her down, pulling the covers up over her small body. Michael snakes his arm around Luke’s waist and leans his head on his shoulder, and they just watch the baby sleep. It was a small gesture, but meant the world to Luke. They were really getting somewhere.

_~~Michael~~ _

Michael can’t believe how much their relationship has grown in just one day. Yes, they finally put a label on it, but so much more than that happened. Michael felt so much of a stronger sense of trust with his boyfriend, and he felt comfortable. He felt happy. He felt loved.

Once they laid down Ella and Luke reminded him to turn on the baby monitor, they headed back to Michael’s room. Michael flung back the duvet and patted the spot next to him, and Luke climbed in, situating himself in front of Michael as the little spoon.

Michael hums to get  the blonde’s attention. Luke turns his body to gaze at the blue haired boy with sleepy eyes. Michael pulled him close by the waist, slotting their lips together. Luke responds immediately, cupping Michael’s cheeks and pressing himself closer towards the boy. This time Luke’s tongue enters Michael’s mouth and licks his lip, but a little bit more hungrily, and Michael moans into his mouth. Luke smiles, seemingly proud of himself. The tall boy swings his other leg over Michael’s so he’s straddling him, and deepens the kiss further. Michael grabs Luke’s waist, trying to close any space between them. They stay like this for a while, making out hungrily yet sweetly, and it’s magical.

Eventually, Michael pulls away for a breath, and he stares at the boy hovering over him.

“Hey,” Michael breaths, smiling.

“Hey,” Luke chuckles, exhaustion evident in his voice.

“I love you, Lukey,” Michael admits, pulling Luke down so he’s just laying on him. He can feel the younger boy grinning widely against his chest. Michael couldn’t be happier. Today was so amazing, hanging out with his new boyfriend all day, hearing his daughter speak her first words, having Luke be a part of that. He just couldn’t contain the feelings that he felt anymore.

“I love you too, Mikey. So much.”

 

\--

 

thanks for #checking in i love u all 


	6. now if you never shoot, you'll never know/if you never eat, you'll never grow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow smut and cashton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this chapter is just kinda all over the place lol sorry. but here i am after like 2 weeks sorrrryyyy. i had writers block with this and then i left for holiday on tuesday and i didnt have my computer so i finished it tonight. speaking of holiday i rly wish i had waited to write the beach scene because i couldve written it so much better @myself whyyy anyway theres sorta smut in it its mostly just like leading up to it and its rly soft smut and the actual stuff will take like 30 seconds to read because it just wasnt flowing sorrrryyy. and then its like wow cashton and then cute i guess so this is a mess but a good one? idk i apologize next chapter will be better!! also ive been trying to make them longer but i suck so this is about 5.5k words. anyway chapter title from robbers by the 1975, enjoy!!

“Lukey!” Michael exclaims, face lighting up as he recognizes the head of blonde hair belonging to the man outside his door.

“Someone’s happy to see me,” Luke chuckles, stepping inside.

“Oh shut up,” Michael grumbles, closing the door behind him before pulling his boyfriend in for a kiss. They break apart, laughing.

“Where’s Ella?” Luke asks.

“Ash has her for the day,” Michael answers, wriggling him in for another kiss. He grabs his cheeks and pulls him close, and Luke clutches his hips. Without warning, Michael slips his tongue into Luke’s mouth. Luke will never be able to get over how good just that simple action feels. Never be able to get over how soft his lips are, how they make his entire body buzz with pleasure. Luke tries to stop himself from groaning. He fails. This apparently encourages Michael, as he breaks the kiss and begins to move his cherry lips down Luke’s sharp jawline, moving to his neck and sucking his fair skin. Luke digs his fingers into Michael’s hips and moans again.

He shouldn’t be getting this worked up over a couple of hickeys, but he’s, well, desperate. They haven’t had sex or really done anything sexual this entire relationship, as he wanted to wait until Michael was comfortable, but that didn’t stop him from wanting it. Even though Michael is initiating all of this, Luke is hesitant. He puts his hand on Michael’s chest to signify him to stop. Michael pulls his head back, looking at the blonde, confusion painting his face.

“Is something wrong? Did I come on too fast? Did I scare you? Oh god, I totally should have asked before I started,” Michael rambles, covering his face with his hands. “God I’m so sorry, I just figured that both of us wanted it I’m so sor—” Luke puts his other hand on his chest, cutting him off.

“No Mikey, I promise you weren’t doing any of that,” Luke laughs lightly to make him feel better, pulling his hands off of his blushing face. Luke brushes a piece of blue hair out of his eyes before kissing his forehead softly. “I just want to make sure that _you’re_ comfortable and that _you_ want this.” Michael sighs a sigh of relief, his hands finding Luke’s waist.

“I sure as hell want this more than anything,” he breathes.

“Me too,” Luke agrees. And with that, Michael pushes Luke against the wall, kissing him hard. Luke can already feel himself getting hard, his jeans tightening around his crotch.

“Lift your leg up,” Michael mumbles into his ear, kissing it too. Luke complies and lifts his leg around Michael’s waist. Michael hooks his arm under Luke’s butt, and then hoists up his other leg, wrapping them around Michael’s midsection. It’s quite a feat, doing all this without disconnecting their lips. Michael turns around and heads towards his bedroom, but accidentally hits Luke’s head on the doorframe. Luke grunts, rubbing his head, but starts to laugh, and so does Michael.

“You’re too damn tall,” The blue haired boy giggles.

“Knowing us, we shouldn’t have expected this to go very smoothly,” Luke throws his head back with laughter. Michael nods his head in agreement, and tries again, this time ducking through the doorway. He kicks the door closed with his foot, releasing Luke onto the bed. He bounces off the mattress a bit, chucking.

“Thanks for throwing me,” Luke teases.

“You’re taller than me and I’m not strong. You were getting heavy, okay? Now take off your damn pants, asshole,” Michael laughs. Luke rolls his eyes but complies, standing up to shimmy off his black skinnies. His boyfriend does the same, yanking down on his sweats. He climbs onto the bed and Luke crawls on top of him, situating a leg on either side of Michael. The green eyed boy wraps his arms around Luke’s waist, kissing him hard. They both respond, making throaty noises. Luke starts to play with the hem of Michael’s shirt.

“Take this damn thing off,” he murmurs in between kisses. Michael nods, and Luke leans back a bit so the older boy can throw off his band tee. Luke stares at his torso, the expanse of fair skin sporting a few adorable freckles here and there. His little tummy is squished up a bit due to the awkward angle he’s lying at, but the blonde is convinced it’s the most flawless thing he’s ever seen. Luke is amazed at how perfect one human can be. He had seen Michael without a shirt before, while at the beach or just lounging around, but never in this intimate of a moment. A perfect moment shared between just the two of them. Luke falls back on him, peppering his face with kisses.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” Luke whispers, smiling wide. He can see Michael blush at this and shake his head, and Luke starts to worry that no one has ever told him that he is. He wants to make sure he knows. He slots their lips together long and slow, gripping at Michael’s faded hair, then leans back. “You are the most breathtaking human being I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

“Whatever,” Michael mumbles, his face matching the color of fiery red hair Luke had once seen in pictures of him. “Just take off _your_ shirt so we can hurry up, you sap,” Michael laughs. Luke rolls his eyes but takes his off, casting it off to the side of the bed. This was _real_ , this was _happening_. And suddenly, Luke gets scared. He’s never actually had real sex with a guy, never actually having gotten that far trust-wise in past relationships. He knows Michael has before, they’ve talked about it, and he’s terrified that he’s going to disappoint Michael. Luke tries to shake the thoughts out of his head and they return to their original position, but it doesn’t last for long. As Michael pulls at the waist band of Luke’s boxers, Luke puts a hand on his chest and leans back.  

“What’s wrong?” Michael asks, concern evident in his voice and filling his green eyes. Luke is embarrassed to reveal his guy virginity, afraid that Michael might think lower of him. What man wants to be with some random guy who’s never had proper sex? He then shakes his head, mad at himself for even thinking about his boyfriend like that. Luke laces their fingers together, rubbing softly before looking at Michael.

“It’s just, I’m kinda scared. I’ve never had sex with a guy. I’ve done other stuff but never the real thing, and I’m afraid to disappoint you,” Luke admits, casting his eyes down and letting his hand go, his face burning. Michael shakes his head and grabs Luke hands again, kissing them one at a time before looking at him. His gaze was full of sympathy and affection.

“You could never _ever_ disappoint me, Luke Robert Hemmings. Even if we had the worst sex in the entire world, I would still love you just as much as I do now,” Michael laughs, and Luke smiles softly. “That being said, we’re not going to ignore your feelings. You’re feelings are valid and we are not going to do anything without you being totally okay with it. We can stop right now if you want to,” Michael proclaims, sitting up a bit to kiss Luke’s forehead. Luke’s head is reeling. He is so amazed at how accepting and loving one person can be, but also at the same time, he’s not at all surprised. This is just how Michael is, he’s just so beyond grateful that he gets to call him his boyfriend. Luke’s cheeks heat up again, but this time with affection. He smiles before replying.

“No, I really do want to do something with you, I just don’t think at this moment I’m ready for the real thing,” he decides, and Michael nods.

“Okay. Again, that’s perfectly fine. What’s the thing you have most experience with that you are comfortable with doing and would want to do?” Michael asks.

“Blowjobs,” Luke answers almost immediately, and the green eyed boy chuckles softly and grips Luke’s thighs. He leans in to kiss him slowly, and Luke returns it, clutching his cheeks. Michael ends it and grins a toothy grin.

“Then how about we exchange blowjobs then call it a day. I’ll do it first so that you don’t feel pressured. Sound good?” Michael chuckles, and Luke laughs along, nodding.

“Sounds perfect.” And with that, the heat of the moment is restored as they slot their lips together for a passionate kiss before they start. Michael once again plays with Luke’s boxers, raising his eyebrows to ask for permission. Luke nods and Michael shimmies them down his long legs as far as he can, and Luke pulls them down the rest of the way. Michael takes his off as well, lifting himself off the bed to do so. He stares intently at Luke’s (beautiful) half hard dick, beyond excited.

Positioning himself to where he has access, Michael wraps his red lips around Luke’s dick, kissing the tip. Luke’s body surges with the touch, already having to suppress a throaty moan. Michael is encouraged by this, taking in more and grabbing the rest and this time Luke can’t hold back, groaning loudly. Michael goes farther and bobs his head up and down, going between sucking hard and softly.  Luke buries his hands in his hair and pulls, moaning loudly, and Michael seems proud. He watches as Michael take him into his throat, swirling his tongue around. As he does this, he reaches to play with Luke’s balls, and Luke throws his head back, the exhilarating sensation ripping through his body.

“Mikey, fuck yes!” he yells, yanking at his faded blue hair. “Babe oh my goddd, that feels so fucking good.” Michael sucks hard, and Luke is almost finished. The sensations pulsating through him are just too much too handle. He feels stupid, as it’s not been long at all, but no one has ever made him feel this good.

“God Mikey, I’m gonna come!” he screeches, throwing his head back. Michael smiles as much as possible with a dick in his mouth and scoots back, focusing on the tip and sucking hard. Luke comes, hollering Michael’s name, and Michael swallows all of it. He pulls Luke’s dick out of his mouth, both of them panting. Luke wipes his brow, giggling a bit.

“That was the best damn blowjob I’ve ever had,” he breathes, laughing.

“You bet it was,” Michael says, falling back onto the bed.

“You want one?” Luke asks, amused at the question.

“I’m fuckin’ exhausted, but why the hell not?” Michael shrugs. Luke laughs and positions himself, stroking Michael’s dick before attaching his lips. He returns the favor, enjoying every second of Michael shrieking his name. Once they’re both finished, they climb onto the bed, their post orgasm bodies exhausted. Luke wriggles in next to Michael and pulls the duvet up to their chins. He turns over so he’s facing his boyfriend and flashes him a fatigued smile. He kisses his nose softly, and Michael finds his hand and laces them together. The moment was so blissful. It was so intimate, and more so than just sexually. This was such a step for Michael and trusting Luke, trusting him with his body. As they lie there together peacefully, Luke stares at Michael, drinking in everything about his appearance. His bright green eyes now slightly dull with weariness, his squishy nose that Luke just wanted to touch all the time, his cherry red utterly kissable lips, just everything. Luke loved everything and just one thing at the same time. Luke loved Michael, but every single little piece that came with him.

“Did you know that I love you like a lot?” Luke yawns, knocking their foreheads together. Michael chuckles softly, yawning as well.

“I did in fact know that. But did _you_ know that I love you even more?” the older boy quips, pecking his lips.

“That’s quite impossible my good sir, as I love you the mostest,” Luke laughs, his eyes fluttering shut.

“Let’s sleep, baby,” Michael whispers, undoing their hands to wrap his arm around Luke’s waist. The blonde wriggles his leg between Michaels, and they fall asleep as one, hard to tell where one boy starts and the other begins.

\--

_~~Michael~~ _

Michael wakes from his nap, eyes searching the room. His lips stretch into a smile as he remembers the activities from earlier that day. He studies the face of the sleeping boy wrapped in his arms. He’s transcendently beautiful, Michael still in awe to this day of how radiant his boyfriend is. _His_ boyfriend. He looks so peaceful, unaware of any stress or issues in his unconscious state. He watches his chest rise and fall, the warm breath filtering through his slightly ajar lips. Michael thinks Luke being a mouth breather is the most adorable thing, Luke thinks otherwise. His skin is so soft, peppered with small freckles, and Michael just wants to kiss every bit of it. He rubs his hand lightly over the blonde’s cheek as not to wake him, then presses his lips softly to the pale expanse of skin.

“Luke,” he whispers. The younger boy doesn’t respond. “ _Lukey.”_ The blonde boy’s eyes lift open roughly, eyes clouded with exhaustion. His lips curl into a smile as he recognizes Michael.

“Mikeyyyy,” he drawls, pressing his forehead against the older boy’s. That seemed to be his favorite thing to do.

“Lukeyyy,” Michael imitates, laughing softly. He wriggles his arm out from underneath Luke and leans over to grab his phone off the bedside table. He checks the time and notices they have about an hour before he has to pick up Ella, and a couple of texts from Ashton and Calum.

**from: ashtonio [3:30 P.M.]**

> hey! Ella’s is fine. just checkin in

**from: ashtonio [5:02 P.M.]**

> o h my god calum just kissed me

**from: cal pal [5:05 P.M.]**

> I JUST FUCKINGF KISSED ASHTON

Michael’s eyes widen at the texts.

“What?” Luke questions, and Michael rolls back over to show him. “Wow,” is all he says. Michael decides to text back Ash first, typing back a quick reply:

**to: ashtonio [5:34 P.M.]**

> ummm what happened??

**from: ashtonio [5:35 P.M.]**

> jesus took you long enough to erply!! idk he came over to hang out and he just kissed me?? and then I didn’t know what to say so I just stared at him and he apologized and ran out before I could say anything and im freakin out

**to: ashtonio [5:35 P.M.]**

> wow bro um cool but not cool?? how can I help??

**from: ashtonio [5:36 P.M.]**

> I know u probs don’t want to but I just rly need a friend rn could u maybe come over sorry to inconvenience you

Michael turns his phone over to Luke, raising questioning eyebrows at him. Luke nods.

“Yeah, that’s totally fine, he needs a friend right now. I could maybe follow you and grab Ella so that you can talk in peace and I could watch her?” Luke suggests, and Michael’s heart swells. Why does he have to be so perfect?

“Luke that’s perfect thank you so much you are literally the best,” Michael rushes, grabbing his face and kissing him hard. Luke just laughs, and Michael types out a quick reply to Ashton before jumping up out of the bed and towards the door.

_~~Luke~~ _

Luke laughs. “Uh, babe? You might want to put on some clothes before you go? Just a suggestion,” he calls, throwing the duvet off himself. He snickers as Michael comes rushing back into the room and throwing on the first clothes he saw.

“You’re a lifesaver babe,” Michael laughs, smacking Luke’s bare ass before actually running out this time.

“Those are my boxers!” Luke calls, but he knows it’s futile. He finds some clothes and a pair of Michael’s underwear, grabs his keys and heads out the door.

\--

They make it to Ashton’s apartment complex, both of them parking out front. Luke hops out of his car and they high tale it to Ash’s door. Michael knocks wildly until the disgruntled curly headed boy rips open the door. His face quickly falls into relief as he recognizes Michael.

“Michael, thank God. I really need to talk to you. Oh, hey Luke,” Ashton breathes, eyebrows scrunching a bit. Luke shakes his head.

“Not here to intrude, just hear to pick up the tiny human so you guys can talk,” The blonde clarifies.

“Isn’t he the best?” Michael coos, staring at Luke with dreamy eyes before standing on his toes to press a kiss to his cheek. Luke blushes but smiles, noticing the third guy rolling his eyes.

“Okay, let’s let Ashton talk his problems out, and we can do this at home later,” Luke laughs.

“Thanks Luke,” Ash giggles. “Ella is asleep in the last room on the right, everything is packed in her bag except the monitor on the kitchen counter.” Luke nods and steps in around Ashton, and collects the baby and her things. On his way out, Michael kisses him again.

“Seriously, thank you again. This means a lot more than you think.”

“No problem, Mikey. Can we switch cars so that I can put Ella in her seat?” Michael nods and they switch keys, and Luke is on his way out.

\--

To say that Luke is stressing would be somewhat of an understatement. He knows pretty much how to take care of a baby; he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t. He wasn’t that stupid. It was just the fact that it was Michael’s baby, and that he really _really_ didn’t want anything to go wrong that was psyching Luke out. Michael was putting so much trust in him right now and Luke was scared he had just set himself up to jeopardize that.

He arrives back at Michael’s apartment and hauls the miraculously still asleep baby and her things up to the place. He drops the bag next to the couch before sitting down extremely carefully, singing softly to Ella as he cradles her.

“Hey baby girl, it’s just you and me today, isn’t it?” Luke whispers, smiling down at her. Suddenly, her eyes pop open and she yawns, giggling softly and chewing on her tiny fist. Luke giggles too. He studies the baby, ready to burst with the overload of adorableness. She had her father’s shimmering emerald eyes, ones that reflected the owners every emotion. Right now they were conveying her sleepiness. Luke laughed as Ella rubbed her eyes roughly as if to wake herself up.

She also shared Michael’s adorable button nose, the soft curves of the pale skin almost exactly like her dads. If Luke wasn’t cradling Ella, he would’ve reached out and booped her tiny nose. Luke felt such a special connection with this tiny one.

But the peaceful moment doesn’t last much longer. After a bit, Ella pursed her identical cherry red lips, squeezing her eyes shut before letting out a high pitched shriek. Luke decides to take this as calmly as possible. He sweeps the hair out of her eyes before standing up. He feels her diaper, and doesn’t feel anything strange, so he decides the best course of action is to make a bottle. He makes his way to the kitchen and mixes the formula and water as best as he can with one arm filled with a screaming baby, and sticks it into the microwave. He urges the microwave to go faster with his mind, as his head is starting to hurt from the noise. He also makes a mental note to praise Michael for doing this every day.

Finally, it beeps and he pulls the bottle out, testing the temperature before he sticks it into Ella’s grabby hands, and helps her lean it back to sip from. He makes his way back to the couch and plops down. Slowly, Ella’s shrieks began to subside and Luke mentally high fives himself.

Once she finishes the bottle off, Luke grabs it and sets it on the coffee table to take to the kitchen later. He leans Ella vertically against his chest and pats her back softly as he once saw Michael do after a bottle. But Luke made one tiny mistake – he forgot the burping towel. As should’ve been expected, Ella burps and ends up spitting up all over Luke’s t-shirt, and consequently on herself. He quickly stands up, cursing under his breath. He holds the baby away from him at arm’s length, trying to decide what to do next. He wasn’t exactly the best in freak situations, and this certainly wasn’t one he was expecting. He walks back to Ella’s room and lays her down on the changing table, shedding off the spit-up ridden t-shirt. It was too much spit-up to just wipe off, so he flips through her closet to find a new outfit. He laughs quietly to himself as he cards through dozens of different outfits, Michael’s shopaholic side obviously shining through. It was adorable though. He settles on just a onesie with a lion sewed onto the side, remembering Michael telling him that that was his favorite animal once. He walks back over to the pink changing table and works Ella out of the soiled outfit, and then notices her soiled diaper.

 _Of course,_ Luke thinks to himself. But he quickly rids himself of the thought, remembering that Michael probably has had to deal with much worse, and every single day.

He works the dirty diaper off of Ella before replacing it, and then wipes her down with a baby wipe to rid of all the bodily fluids. She giggles as he struggles to fit her chubby appendages into the confusing onesie. He makes another mental note to applaud his boyfriend for making parenting look so easy.

Once Luke finally cleans her up completely, he remembers that he’s shirtless, so he hoists Ella onto his hip before strutting to Michael’s room to grab a shirt. He picks out Michael’s favorite blue flannel, the one that always has a strong scent of the green eyed boy. He shimmies on the shirt, switching Ella from hip to hip as he does so. Luke is proud of himself for becoming so agile with her.

He sits himself back onto Michael’s bed and settles Ella on his broad chest, yawning widely. He had been rushing around for about an hour now, and he was tired. He pulls his phone out of his back pocket with the hand not stabilizing the baby and checks his texts.

**from: cal pal [2:30 P.M.]**

> I kissed ash…..

**from: mikey :-) [3:02 P.M.]**

> we’re about done, come home in about 10

He answers Michael first, typing out a quick okay before returning to Calum’s text.

**to: cal pal [3:10 P.M.]**

> hey I heard, mikey told me. you ok?

**from: cal pal [3:12 P.M.]**

> ugh yeah I guess. just really frustrated with myself.

**to: cal pal [3:12 P.M.]**

> wanna come talk? Mikey’s with ash now, I can have him stay a bit later so that you can come over. I’m at mikes with ella if that’s ok but im sure it wont be a problem

**from: cal pal [3:13 P.M.]**

> yeah i guess. thanks luke, be over soon

Luke slides his phone back into his pocket before staring down at Ella. She had drifted back asleep, and he had never been more grateful for a baby’s sleep schedule. He rushes her over gently to her crib in her room and lays her down, setting up the baby monitor and grabbing the one to take with him. He settles himself onto the couch, waiting for Calum.

_~~Michael~~ _

“So,” Michael starts, plopping himself onto Ashton’s leather couch. “What happened?” Ashton rubs his face tiredly.

“Well, he and I were on the couch, and I had invited him over because I was gonna be babysitting obviously and wanted a bit of company. So we were just chilling and talking, and I was cradling Ella to sleep, and then we just kinda fell into this silence. It was a comfortable one, but then I looked up at him and he was smiling and he kissed me and then I didn’t respond so he ran out. I have no idea what to do,” Ashton groans, slumping farther into his seat. Michael rubs his friends arm.

“It sounds like he made what in his mind was a brave decision and when you didn’t show an immediate liking, he freaked out, thinking you don’t reciprocate the feelings. You need to just tell him how you feel,” Michael proclaims.

“Yeah I guess. I’m just scared. Like I always act confident about being gay but really I’m super self conscious and like admitting my feelings and being in a gay relationship is scary to me. Although I want it I’m just worried,” Ashton admits, his cheeks noticeably heating up. Michael nods slowly. So _that’s_ why they’ve been beating around the bush so much with this.

“I have a slight feeling that Calum feels similarly.”

_~~Luke~~ _

Luke hops up when he hears the knock on the door, and opens it up to see a guy very closely resembling a kicked puppy.

“Hey,” Calum mumbles, walking in and flinging himself onto the sofa. Luke follows, sitting in the adjacent chair.

“So. Talk to Uncle Lukey,” Luke quips, and the brunette tosses a pillow at his head.

“Not in the mood,” he grumbles.

“Okay, okay, grumpy pants. Tell me what’s going on,” Luke laughs. Calum sits up, but slouches in his spot.

“I fuckin’ kissed Ashton, that’s what.”

“I get that, but like, _what_ ,” Luke pries. It was easy to get advice from the Maori boy, but getting him to admit something was near impossible.

“I don’t know, man. We were on the couch having a great conversation but then we just fell into silence and he was looking at Ella with all this admiration in his eyes and he was just so damn beautiful, and when he looked back at me with his big hazel eyes, I couldn’t stop myself,” Calum rambles, rubbing his eyes. “I feel terrible, like I forced him into it. I’m a fucking idiot.” Luke grabs his hands from his face.

“Hey. You may be an idiot, but you’re not an _idiot_. You have feelings for Ashton, and you made a decision because sometimes love is too hard to control. I get that. But why did you run out so fast?” Luke asks. Calum’s face softens as Luke validates him.

“I was mad at myself. I had realized what I had done before it was too late. Me and Ash had talked about him having issues with being gay, and that’s why I’ve been so hesitant to make any sort of move around him. And then my stupid ass had to go and kiss him. I want a relationship, I really do. I was just scared.” Luke nods.

“That makes sense. The only thing I can suggest is to talk to him. Tell him what you told me, that you feel bad but you really like him. I think if you guys can communicate you can work this out.” Calum looks down but smiles and nods.

“Thanks, Luke. I will. When should I do it?” he asks.

“Hold on,” Luke says, and he checks his phone for any texts from Michael.

**from: mikey :) [4:01 P.M.]**

> hey, can we get cal and ash to meet up? I think they can finally get this to work out

**to: mikey :) [4:05 P.M.]**

> I was thinking the same thing. Bring ash over?

**from: mikey :) [4:05 P.M.]**

> on our way :)

Luke shoves his phone back in his pocket, smiling.

“You can do it in about ten minutes,” he says, and Calum looks at him with wide eyes.

\--

Sure enough, they hear a knock on the door, and open it to reveal a bouncy Michael and a nervous Ashton.

“Hey guys!” Luke exclaims, and Ashton rolls his eyes. “Come on in!”

“This is my house, idiot,” Michael mumbles, but kisses his cheek nonetheless.

“So!” Luke says, clasping his hands together. “Talk.” He eyes Calum and Ashton, who are both equally confused.

“We, uh, we don’t want to disrupt your guys’ time together,” Calum tries, and Luke shakes his head.

“Nope! Mike and I are fine. And we were just about to go check on Ella. Come on Mike,” Luke explains, dragging Michael by the arm. They walk into the hallway as if they’re about to go into Ella’s room, but stand inside the doorway so they can listen to the conversation. It was pretty muffled, but they were able to hear.

“Hey, uh, I’m really sorry for kissing you. I know you’re self conscious and stuff,” Calum stutters, and Luke can practically feel his blush.

“No, it’s really fine. I’m sorry I didn’t react. I was just scared,” Ashton explains.

“It’s just, I really like you, Ash.”

“I really like you to, Cal.”

“Do you maybe want to try this again?” Luke looks at Michael with his eyebrows raised, and Michael rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, I do,” Ashton whispers almost illegibly and next thing Luke knows, all talking has stopped and he can almost hear the touching of lips. Luke holds up a fist and Michael fist bumps him with the hundredth eye roll that day, but pulls his boyfriend in for a tight hug.

“Okay, you guys can come out now,” they hear Ashton giggle. Michael and Luke shuffle out, and they’re met with the two boys with their arms around the others waists, and Ashton is leaning his head on Calum’s shoulder.

“So?” Michael asks suggestively.

“We finally worked it out. I guess you could say we’re boyfriends now too,” Calum smiles sheepishly, leaning his head on the other boys’.

“Sweet!” Luke exclaims, and they all four laugh. As if on cue, they hear crying come from the next room.

“Shit, sorry I woke her,” the blonde apologizes.

“No, that’s probably our cue to leave. See you guys later,” Calum laughs, tugging on Ashton’s wrist towards the door. They wave, and Michael walks over to shut the door behind the new couple. He high fives Luke with a childish grin before making his way to calm down Ella.

\--

“We’re great matchmakers, aren’t we?” Luke giggles as he toys with Michael’s fingers in bed that night.

“We sure are,” his boyfriend agrees, stopping Luke so that they could lace their fingers together. “So I saw you had changed into my flannel today, what was that about?”

“Oh it was nothing, just when I was babysitting, Ella spit up on me. Not a big deal. I just threw it into the wash and grabbed your flannel. Plus it smells like you,” Luke grins.

“Oh I’m sorry, Lukey, I know it’s a pain when she does that,” he chuckles. “But really, thank you so much again for doing that. I appreciate it so much more than you know.”

“No problem, Mikey. It was honestly not a big deal. I knew that you probably didn’t want to deal with a baby while you were trying to have a heart to heart with a man in crisis,” Luke laughs.

“You’re right,” Michael agrees, smiling. “But that’s what I’m talking about. You always put me before yourself and think about others, and it just makes my heart so happy. It was so nice for you to do that, and I just loved it and you so much.” Luke beams.

“Oh yeah, I wanted to let you know that you are so brave and so strong for being a single parent every day. I was struggling just doing it a couple of hours. You are the best human being I know,” Luke praises, and even in the dark of the bedroom, he can see a warm glow filling up the older boys’ cheeks.

“Thanks, it’s really not much, just whatever I can.” Michael tries to downplay.

“Well it means the world to Ella and to me too. You are such a great father, and I love you a lot,” Luke grins. He presses a kiss to Michael’s lips.

“I love you too, Lukey.” Luke nods, and leans to turn off the lamp.

“Do you want to be big spoon again tonight?” Luke asks.

“Could I, uh, be little spoon tonight maybe?” Michael chuckles. Luke nods, and turns around so he’s lying behind the older boy, and wraps his arm tight around him, kissing his shoulder.

“Anything for you, Mikey.”

\--

lmk what u think and leave cute comments

ALSO a HUGE thank you to everyone thats read this/left kudos/commented i appreciate it more than you know :') i love u all a lot <3

 


	7. loving someone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a whole lotta feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes im back!! sorry its been over 2 weeks i was super busy and also the hella writing block with this chapter wasnt helpful. anyway im trying to keep the notes short because ive realized my long ass ones might be annoying, but i just wanted to say thanks for sticking with me!! i made this long, 6k words, since you had to wait so long. and this is only in lukes pov this time bc thats what worked best idk i cant explain it. theres a part with a panic attack sort of, its not really, but if ur easily triggered i just wanted to let u know. title from loving someone by the 1975 bc im unoriginal and its late, umm enjoy and please leave feedback!! <3

_~~Luke~~ _

Luke is pulled from unconsciousness, breathing in the familiar scent of Michael’s room. Smiling, he rolls over to cuddle closer to his boyfriend. Instead of the warm embrace of strong arms he was expecting, the blonde was met with a face full of pillows. He groans and throws the duvet off of himself before pulling on a pair of boxers and stalking to the kitchen. There, he’s met with the sweetest sight his eyes have probably ever seen, his heart swelling with fondness. Leaning against the doorway, he watches the blue haired boy. Michael has his back towards him, cooking something on the stove, the crackling sound and the sweet vanilla smell filling the cramped kitchen with the feeling of domesticity. He shakes his hips and hums lightly to the music drifting through the speaker, and occasionally simpers words of love to Ella, who’s perched in her high chair. Luke smiles to himself at the adorable sight and strides over to Michael, snaking his arms around the older boy’s waist. He presses soft kisses to his bare, freckled shoulders – something he knew Michael adored. The older boy rests his head against Luke’s temple in response.

“Good morning, Mikey,” Luke coos, hugging him tighter.

“Morning, Lukey. How’d you sleep?” Michael asks, craning his neck to kiss Luke’s cheek before flipping the pancake in the pan.

“Good, good. I missed you in bed when I woke up, you know I hate waking up without you,” Luke pouts, and Michael just laughs, kissing the pout right off his face.

“I wanted to surprise you, babe! Why do you hate fun? Now get off me so that we can set the table,” Luke rolls his eyes but laughs, reluctantly unraveling Michael from his tight grasp.

Luke grabs two plates and cups from the cabinet and sets them down on the table, along with a couple of forks and knives. Michael balances the eggs, bacon, and pancakes all in his arms and sets them down with a flourish of his arm.

“Voila!” he exclaims in his best French accent (it wasn’t very good). “Breakfast is served!” Luke laughs and pushes Ella’s high chair towards the table, making train noises as he went to make her giggle. They plop down into their seats, and Michael starts to doll out pancakes and eggs, Luke grabbing a few pieces of bacon. The blonde grabs a pancake and rips it up, setting it on Ella’s plate-like attachment on her high chair. They begin to dig in, and Luke is filled with an overwhelming feeling of something he can only describe as contentment. It makes him so happy just to share these simple moments with Michael, these little domestic pieces of time that are so small yet mean so much. He’s just so grateful that Michael has let him in on his life enough to get to do this with him, to just be happy and do something like have breakfast together.

He grins through a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes as he watches Michael cross his eyes and shove an entire piece of bacon in his mouth just to make Ella laugh.

Once they get a bit farther into their meal, they begin to chat about their day.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Michael asks, looking up at Luke as he sips coffee from a mug splattered with paint, courtesy of a certain almost one year old.

“Hm. Well, I have to be at the cafe from two ‘til six, and then I was planning on coming back here for dinner? Or you guys could come over.”

“You can just come back over, and we can fix a meal together, it’ll be cute,” Michael winks. “Also, we need to start planning the little one’s birthday party, her birthday is tomorrow.”

“Wait, really? I totally forgot about that! Wow, time really does go by fast,” Luke raises his eyebrows along with another forkful of pancake to his mouth.

Michael snorts. “You’re tellin’ me.” He gazes over at his daughter smashing her hands in the food on her plate without a single stress in the world, and Luke can visibly see his boyfriend’s eyes fill with fondness and love, and he can’t help but compare it to how he feels when he looks at Michael.

“So what were you thinking about doing?”

“It’s probably gonna be a smaller party since I don’t really have a wide variety of friends and also she’s only turning one, so I was thinking like you, Cal, Ash, and my parents come over and just chill?” Luke freezes. His _parents?_ Luke’s never met a significant other’s parents before. And with being as awkward as he is, he’d do something to make them absolutely hate him. Michael seems to catch on to Luke’s not so subtle discomfort.

“You okay with that?” he asks, cocking a pierced eyebrow. Luke coughs.

“Um, uh, yeah. Sounds great. Just- your parents?” Luke stumbles, busying himself by shoving more food in his face.

“Yeah I’m not thrilled either, they’re not huge fans of my single father-ness _or_ my gayness but I feel like they would be even more unbearable if they found out they weren’t invited to her first birthday, ya know?” Michael huffs, running a hand through his messy bedhead. Suddenly Luke feels bad for even thinking his arbitrary problems were comparable to Michael’s feelings, and decides that it’s more important he’s there for his boyfriend.

“I think that’s good thing that you’re trying to be civil with them. You’re really great, Mikey,” Luke hums, leaning across the small table to plant a kiss on Michael’s nose. He knocks over the salt in the process.

“What a hopeless romantic,” Michael laughs, and Luke rolls his eyes. “Anyway, what I was gonna ask you was that since my parents are coming, if you could help me dye my hair a less obscene color?” he giggles, tugging at the faded turquoise strands.

“Of course, babe. What color were you thinking?” Luke smiles.

“I was thinking just like bleach it for them and then once they leave you could help me decide on a color,” he winks, smirking.

“Fu-”

“No swearing around the baby!”

“ _Heck_ yeah,” Luke blushes, and they both fall into a fit of giggles. “So I’ll come back here after work and we can head to the store to pick out some colors?” Luke suggests.

“Perfect.”

\--

“Honey I’m hooome!” Luke hollers, banging open the door to his boyfriends’ apartment. Michael comes around the corner with a giggling Ella expertly strapped in to her signature pink carrier, rolling his eyes, but nonetheless playing along.

“Hellloo, my beautiful spouse, how was your long hard day at work?”

“Not as long and hard as some other things,” Luke winks, and Michael slaps his arm with his free hand.

“Let’s just go before my one year old starts spouting off every dick joke and cuss word in the book.”

\--

“I think this is a nice color,” Luke muses, picking up a small box, the model plastered on possessing a head of shockingly orange hair. It reminds Luke of a candy he once loved as a kid.

“Been there, done that,” Michael says as he searches through the boxes of bleach. “Ash called it my cream soda hair.”

“Hm. I didn’t know that.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Michael simpers, winking.

“Okay I thought we were gonna stop with the innuendos.”

“She’s my child.” Luke just rolls his eyes before picking up another shiny box of hair dye, the model on this one sporting cotton candy pink hair.

“Done it,” he says without even looking up. Luke harrumphs. Michael finally chooses a suitable bleach and stretches out, hiking the baby carrier higher up his forearm.

“Hm. Well it seems you’ve done every possible color and then some, so I say you go with a mix. What’s Ella’s favorite color?”

“Pink,” he answers immediately.

“Well, let’s get a bunch of pink like colors and throw them in your hair.” Michael shrugs.

“Sounds good to me.” And with that, Luke throws any warm color he can find into the shopping basket. Ten boxes later, they finally decide that’s good, and head to the check out. The cashier gave the two men with a baby buying multiple bottles of hair dye an offhanded look, but doesn’t say anything, and they’re on their way home.

\--

“Alright. Let’s get started,” Luke announces as he snaps on the translucent rubber gloves that came along with the dye.

“You know we’re just bleaching it tonight, right?” Michael laughs, putting the rubber cover onto the shower faucet so that Ella could play in the tub while they did Michael’s hair.

“Yes, but I’m gonna have fun with this. Have you heard from your parents about the party?” Michael leans over the tub to set down Ella with a couple of toys, and Luke takes this opportunity to smack his ass. He loves their dynamic. He stands up quickly, rubbing the spot hit, lovingly glaring at the perpetrator before answering.

“Not really. I called them earlier today but they didn’t answer so I just left a message, they should probably get back soon.”

“Alright. Let’s get started!” Luke repeats again, hoisting himself on the counter and patting the spot between his legs. Michael shed himself of his shirt before wrapping a towel around his shoulders then situates himself in the given spot. Luke pulls out the instructions. They go through all the motions, Michael knowing them well, and finally they’re left with the final product, Michael’s hair wrapped in countless pieces of tin foil to set. Ella takes one look at her father in his ridiculous get up and bursts into the world’s cutest giggle, clapping her chubby hands.

“Dada!” she exclaims, shuffling in her spot in the tub. Michael and Luke laugh, and Michael makes silly faces. He leans down over the side of the tub and crosses his eyes, sticking out his tongue.

“I am a space alien,” the older boy whips out his best alien voice, and this makes her giggle even harder. Luke laughs along too, enjoying this precious moment. He used to feel like he was intruding whenever he was a part of these times, these intimate moments between father and daughter. But that’s slowly changed. Luke has almost started to feel like he belongs here, that they’re almost their own little family. Of course he would never say anything to Michael; he doesn’t want to scare him away. But for now the blonde relishes in the fact that the older boy is even so willing as to let him in on these special times.

As if to ruin the moment, the tin foil clad boys’ phone begins to sing the opening to _Boulevard of Broken Dreams,_ and he sits up, extracting it out of his jeans pocket to answer the call. _It’s them_ , he mouths to Luke, a small smile on his lips. Luke returns the favor, proud of Michael for doing this. Even though he was scared originally, he found it more important that he encouraged Michael to do this.

“Hey Mom, how are you? .. I’m good, good... Yeah, I was wondering if… What? Oh, that’s uh, new information,” Michael says, and Luke watches as his face falls from a look of pride to a look of utter defeat. Luke furrows his eyebrows, and Michael just holds up a finger. God, he wishes he knew what was being said on the other line.

“Oh, okay. Thanks, talk to you – oh okay.” Now he looks on the brink of tears as he hangs up, tossing his phone onto the cold linoleum.

“Wha- What happened?” Luke asks.

“They, they’re not coming,” Michael deadpans, a look that Luke has a hard time deciphering taking over his soft facial features. One of almost disappointment, but more. Luke hops off the counter, lacing his fingers with Michael’s.

“Why not?”

“They don’t want to associate with me anymore,” the older boy chokes out. He refuses to meet Luke’s eyes.

“What?”

“They joined a new church, recently. One that says that being gay is the sin of all sins. And that having a child out of wedlock isn’t much better. I guess I’m just full of sin, aren’t I?” Michael laughs, the noise filled with anything but humor. He finally makes eye contact, his face flushed and eyes glassy. Luke’s heart breaks into a million pieces. He drops their hands and instead moves to hug Michael, enveloping him with his tight grip. The tin foil still coursing through the older boy’s hair is still there, pressing against Luke’s cheek, but he doesn’t care. He can feel tears start to slip down Michael’s cheeks and it soaks into Luke’s T shirt.

“I knew that they weren’t in love with the fact that I was a gay – pan – single dad, but I mean, what the fuck?” he squeaks, the color draining from his already pale face. Luke runs his fingers lightly over the other boys’ cheek.

“I don’t know, babe,” is all Luke says. There really isn’t anything to say. Ella almost seems to sense the tension growth in the small bathroom, and begins to cry.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Michael mutters, tears dripping down his own face. He squeezes them tight and proceeds to grab Ella, but Luke tugs on the towel still draped over Michael’s shoulders.

“Hey, babe. Let me put her down, you start to undo your hair and I’ll be right back, and we can talk. Okay?” Luke suggests, and Michael just stares at his feet, nodding a barely noticeable nod before yanking at the silver pieces in his hair. “Right back, I promise,” Luke repeats, a bit louder this time as the volume of Ella’s cries intensifies. He leans down and plucks the baby out of the tub and hoists her onto his hip before making his way to her room.

“Hey, let’s be good and quite for your daddy right now, he’s upset. He needs you to be a good girl, okay?” Luke whispers softly to the wailing baby in his arms, and hugs her close to his chest, kissing her forehead. Ella still continues to cry, so Luke decides to vie for the easiest option now, a binky. He grabs one off her dresser and sticks it in her tiny mouth. Tears are still flowing, but the screaming subsides slightly. He rocks in her arms gently yet impatiently, desperately needing to get back to Michael. Finally she stops, her crying coming to a close, and he lays her down in her crib for now. Thanking any and every god out there that the crying tired her out, he grabs the baby monitor before rushing back to the bathroom. There, he sees Michael standing under the shower rubbing at his head with his jeans still on, making strangled, pained noises that sounds like crying. What little semblance of Luke’s heart remaining shatters. He rushes over, pushing the shower head so that it’s not pouring over Michael. His boyfriend looks at him, his face lobster red, covered in water. Luke can’t tell what are tears and what’s shower water.

“Baby, come on, let’s get out.” He holds out his hand to Michael, who takes it reluctantly and stumbles out of the shower. Luke shuts it off and steers Michael towards his bedroom, dripping a pathway of tears and water. They make it there and Luke sits him down on the edge of the bed and attempts to peel of his jeans. They were already tight in the first place, them being wet wasn’t much of a help. Michael sits there, emotionless, as Luke does this. Finally he manages the feat of shimmying them off, and pulls off his boyfriends’ soaked boxers, and hands him a new pair. He steps into them, acting like a robot that’s being fed information through a computer chip. Michael leans back on the bed and curls into a ball. Luke watches him for a second before hopping in on the side behind him, wrapping his arms tight and tucking his head in the crook of Michael’s neck. They lie there for a while as Michael’s sobs wrack through his body, and Luke holds him. Holds him like he’s trying to hold together a destroyed vase, like he’s trying to glue a mirror. All Luke wants to do right now is cry himself, but he knows he can’t. He knows he has to be strong for Michael right now. He’s watching his boyfriend, the person he loves most, fall apart in his arms, and he just wants to make him feel better, but he knows there’s really nothing he can do besides just _be_. Michael is feeling hurt, abandoned, worthless. As much as it pains Luke to see him like this, to see him feel like he’s not enough just because of his intolerant parents, he has to know when to just hold him and let him cry. So he does, he holds him as the pain crashed over Michael, like waves in a tsunami.

\--

Finally, after either minutes or hours, hell if Luke can tell, Michael’s tears subside. He’s hot and sweaty, and wriggles out of Luke’s grip just a bit. He flops himself onto his side so he’s face to face with Luke, and Luke really takes in how wrecked he is. His entire face is flushed beet red, cheeks and eyes swollen and bloodshot, old pathways of fat tears evident on the older boy’s rosy cheeks. Luke just stares at him, trying to convey telepathically that he’s there for him. He gently grabs his hand and laces their fingers together, rubbing soft, soothing circles on the back of Michael’s pale skin.

“Hey,” Michael utters, voice ragged, every syllable dripping with exhaustion. Even now, he curls his lips into a tiny smile. Luke’s heart breaks for the hundredth time that day. Luke returns a smile, yet a bit bigger one, doing anything he can to help lighten the mood. “Sorry about that breakdown.” Michael chuckles humorlessly, refusing to meet Luke’s eyes out of shame. Luke just shakes his head and crooks a finger underneath Michael’s chin, cerulean eyes meeting emerald ones.

“Hey. No. Don’t apologize for that. That was a lot to take in, and it wasn’t anything good. You have to right to cry. You have the right to not be okay,” Luke says in a forceful yet gentle tone. He needs Michael to understand this. He pauses to use his free hand to lay his palm on Michael’s hot cheek, rubbing it softly. Michael nods slightly, so Luke keeps talking. He knows that right now he just wants to listen.

“I know you feel like you have to be a hero all the time for Ella, for me, for Ash, for everyone. I know you feel like everyone relies on you. I’m here to tell you that yeah, you’re important. Hell, you’re the most important fuckin’ person in my life right now. But that doesn’t mean you have to uphold everyone else all the time. Does that make sense?” Michael nods again, and a small tear slips from his glossy eyes, and Luke gets that it’s a grateful one.

“I also know how much it hurts that this happened. The feeling of intolerance, especially directed at you, is probably the worst feeling out there. That you don’t feel like you’re enough or you belong.” Michael sniffs in agreeance. “But I’m also here to tell you that fuck them. I think you’re the most lovable and perfect person I’ve ever met in my life, and you belong somewhere. You belong with me.” Luke pronounces. He sweeps the now platinum blonde hair out of Michael’s eyes and kisses his nose, and knocks their foreheads together. Michael pulls in a shaky breath before speaking.

“I get that Luke, I really, really do. And I feel I belong with you. It just hurts so much that my own fucking parents don’t want me, that they think I’m just this bag of sin. It just makes me feel like the time they spent loving and caring for me was fake. They always told me that they’d love me unconditionally; that they’re love had no bounds. It just really horrified me that I had found those bounds and broke them. How do you break bounds that don’t exist?” Michael pauses and sighs, and Luke pecks their lips together, letting him know he’s listening. “And then it was just this accumulative thing, like they never loved me, they hate me, they want me dead. And then I just kinda showered with my clothes on,” he finishes, laughing dryly. Luke pets Michael’s face softly and watches as sadness swims through the older boys’ eyes.

“No, Mikey, it’s okay. Don’t ever feel bad or stupid for panicking, it’s just a part of life. Just know that you can reach out to me anytime, okay? I just want you to be happy, always.” Michael’s lips curl into a small smile and tears start to pool in his eyes again. Luke is positive they’re happy ones. “I love you, a whole, whole lot,” he whispers, staring into his boyfriends’ eyes.

“I love you more.”

“Debatable.”

“Ah, Luke. Always the one to ruin the moment. Now can we sleep for a bit?” Luke chuckles but nods, and pulls Michael in flush against his chest. He presses soft kisses to his shoulder before drifting off into sleep with the person he loves most.

\--

“ _Luke. Luuuuke.Psst. Luuuuuke,”_ Luke hears a familiar voice whispering directly in his ear. He’s too tired to process what’s happening so he just flaps his hand in the general direction of the voice, rolling over to go back to sleep. The voice didn’t like that. “Hey asshole, wake up,” Michael demands, pushing him off the bed. Luke lands with a grunt on the (thankfully) carpeted floor, wrenching open his eyes to glare at his boyfriend. Michael just flashes him a cheeky grin before jumping off the bed.

“You’ve been asleep for like thirty years and I wanted to let you sleep but it’s like eleven and today’s Ella’s party so I woke you up,” he rambles, still grinning.

“Someone’s excited,” Luke coughs, hauling himself off the ground. “So did you organize the party?”

“Yeah! I woke up at like 8 A.M. so I just called up Cal and Ash and asked them to meet us at the park today and bring a cake and they said they would, so today’s party day!” Luke nods, pulling on a random pair of jeans and a t-shirt, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth with the toothbrush he always kept at Michael’s place. The platinum-blonde swings an arm around Luke’s waist as he does this, leaning his head on his shoulder.

“Alsoooo, I need you to help me dye my hair the rest of the way, since we kinda didn’t finish yesterday,” Michael trails off, cheeks heating up. Luke just nods, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his free hand. He spits into the sink and puts up the toothbrush, then looks at Michael.

“Alright, what was our plan again? Just a bunch of pink?” Michael nods vigorously. “Cool, let’s get this over with.”

-

Moments later, the two are caught in the position they were in just a few hours beforehand, Michael between Luke’s legs as he massages the dye into the older boys’ scalp. But this time it was a plethora of colors, and Luke was having a fun time splashing them in random places, making art with his boyfriends’ soft hair.

“So, you haven’t stopped smiling all morning,” Luke points out as he rubs a bit of orange into the underside of Michael’s hair. He wasn’t complaining, just observing.

“Yeah,” the green eyed boy concedes, a dreamy tone to his voice. “I’m just really happy right now, is all. I kinda have a lot going for me.”

“Oh, really? Face me for a sec,” He massages a bit of hot pink into the boys’ fringe.

“Yeah! I know it seems like this came at a weird time what with yesterday and all, but it makes sense. I felt like my world was crumbling and like everything sucks, but then I thought about what I did have. I have Ella, Ash and Cal, a job that can support me, a passion for music, and _you,”_ he explains, putting an emphasis on the reference to Luke. The blonde smiles brightly, winking at his boyfriend. If his gloved hands weren’t covered in very stainable red liquid, he would grab Michael’s face and kiss him so hard.

“I don’t know, I just really love you a lot is all. I’m just so thankful for you. Like, before you, I was really closed off and didn’t ever really want to open up to anyone or let anyone in. But you waltzed in with your stupid niceness and changed everything, and I can trust more now, I’m more confident, I just feel happier. So, thank you,” Michael proclaims, smiling as he stares at Luke, gauging his reaction. Luke’s face breaks into a grin, and he can almost feel tears threatening to spill in the back of his eyes. He loves this guy too goddamn much.

“Wow Mikey I – wow, I uh.”

“You were never really the articulate one, but you can’t have everything can you,” Michael laughs, pressing a kiss to Luke’s nose, who just faux grunts.

“ _Rude_. What I was trying to say is just that that makes me so, so happy, and that I love you so much too. I love that you were able to let me in on your life, that you were able to trust me and let me love you as much as I do, because you deserve it. You do so much for Ella, for me, you deserve to receive as much, if not more, love as you give out. And you’ve changed me too. I’ve learned to be more responsible, more loving, more caring. Before you, I was just a random kid who worked at a coffee shop wondering if he even had a purpose. But I’ve found my purpose now – to love you.” A single tear slips down Michael’s cheek as he takes it all in, and doesn’t even care that they’re in such a crude setting. He grabs Luke’s face and kisses him hard, and Luke kisses back. It’s probably the most intimate one they’ve ever shared – not just a random good morning kiss or hello kiss or even an _I want you_ kiss. It’s one that signifies how far they’ve come as individuals and as a couple. It was quite a sight, Luke’s dye covered hands still hovering in the other boys’ hair, Michael wedged between his legs as they share a fiery kiss, but Luke wouldn’t have wanted it any differently. He just really loves Michael.

After a bit, they finally have to disconnect for air, and the both just laugh.

“Well, that was – something,” Michael giggles.

“It sure was. Now let’s get all this stuff out of your hair and wake up the princess,” Luke suggests. Michael agrees, so Luke hops off the counter, and the older boy sheds his jeans and boxers before hopping into the shower.

“I’ll be out in a sec.”

“No, let me help you,” Luke says, before shedding himself of his own clothes and the sticky gloves and stepping into the shower with his boyfriend. They shuffle themselves around for a second, trying to find comfortable positions in a shower much too small for two over six foot men.

“Hey,” Luke giggles, booping Michael’s nose once they finally situate themselves.

“Hey,” Michael responds, scrunching up his face and giggling. Luke loves that sound so much.

“Here, let’s get this stuff out of your hair,” Luke suggests, reaching around Michael to grab the detachable shower head. He smacks Michael’s bare ass as he does so, and he yelps, but laughs.

“Kinky.” Luke gasps dramatically, a hand flying to his mouth.

“Why I never,” he says in his best southern belle voice. Michael laughs even harder, his face doing that adorable scrunchy thing when he laughs too hard.

“Oh just shut up and get this out of my hair before I go bald.”

“Whatever you say, princess.” He does do what he told though, getting Michael’s hair wet before running his long fingers through the older boys’ soft tendrils. Michael closes his eyes leans into his touch, almost moaning as Luke massages his scalp.

“Mm, I _love_ it when people play with my hair,” Michael groans, and Luke notices his already half hard dick. He’d take care of that later.

“I know you do, baby,” Luke concedes, scratching lightly at his scalp, another moan tumbling from Michael’s lips. Luke loves the pure intimacy of this atmosphere. Sexual or not, he loves making Michael feel good, loves being in these sweet moments of blissfulness.

He extracts his fingers from the boys’ hair and he whimpers, but quickly turns them into happy sighs as Luke rubs in a handful of shampoo. Luke presses warm kisses to Michael’s shoulder blades, and chews softly on the skin in the crook of his neck. Michael loves every second of it. Luke grabs the shower head again and rubs out every last bit of the shampoo.

“Done!” he exclaims, smiling. Michael pushes him roughly against the shower wall, slotting their lips together. Luke responds immediately, slipping his tongue inside Michael’s mouth letting it wander, taste. He cups on hand around Michael’s cheek, the other cupping his ass, and he’s about to let it wander to his dick before a familiar piercing noise echoes through the small bathroom, startling the two. They had both forgotten about the baby monitor set up on the counter, and subsequently the baby as well. Oops. Luke leans his head back against the tile, chuckling.

“Damn it. Always at the worst times,” Michael laughs, pushing himself off Luke. He turns it off and they both step out of the shower. Michael grabs a towel and throws one at the blonde, and they wrap them around their waist. He stands on his tip toes to smooch Luke’s nose. “To be continued,” he chuckles, and Luke follows him as he heads out of the steamy bathroom. They wander into Ella’s bedroom, where she is lying in her crib, emitting ear splitting shrieks. Luke is proud to say he’s no longer fazed by it, and takes the initiative to pluck her out of her crib. He settles her on his bare chest, rocking from foot to foot and humming a tune to calm her down. It works a bit, and her cries start to subside. Michael starts to get antsy, so Luke passes the newly turned one year old to her father, and when she catches sight of his shockingly pink hair, any semblance of unhappiness passes right through her. Ella giggles and claps excitedly, fisting her hands into the bright mop of hair.

“Pink daddy!” she exclaims, and Michael laughs and nods, kissing her tiny nose. She’s been talking more and more, and it’s been adorable to watch fold out. She grabs and plays with her father’s hair, Luke takes the time to really admire his hair as it starts to dry. It’s quite strange, as Luke isn’t a hairdresser who knows what he’s doing, but Luke would say it looks pretty good. A splash of pink here, a dash of orange there, with some reds and pinkish-purples and orangey-yellows decorates his scalp. Pretty damn cool if Luke does say so himself. But eventually, Ella gets bored of the fascinating hair and gets fidgety again.

“Give to uver daddy!” she hollers, waving her chubby limbs in the air energetically. Michael freezes for a second as he lets that sink in, and so does Luke. _Other daddy._ Oh. The blonde looks at him with wide eyes, unaware of what to do next.

 _Damnit!!_ , Luke thinks. _Things were going so well, damnit, please don’t run again._ He knows Michael can’t read his thoughts but he thinks them anyway. He just stands there staring. Finally, Michael’s face returns to a one of fondness before he hands Ella back over to Luke, busying herself with slapping Luke’s bare chest. The blonde cocks an eyebrow, and Michael reads his mind.

“It’s okay, she’s only one. She could’ve done it with anyone, it just was you.” Michael shrugs, but Luke still isn’t convinced. “I’m _okay_ , Luke. Really, I am. Trust, remember?” he pauses to take a deep breath. “I am trusting that you won’t hurt her or me, that you’ll be here. I believe wholeheartedly that you will.” He smiles softly, and Luke’s heart melts.

“I will,” Luke proclaims. And although it’s pretty early in their relationship, Luke understands this feeling well. He’s not going anywhere, and they both know it.

\--

“Alrighty, let’s get this party star-ted!” Ashton exclaims, slamming the cake (and six pack) down on the picnic table near the playground. Calum comes up behind him and wraps an arm around his waist, pressing a kiss to his temple and laughs.

“Babe, you do realize this is a one-year-olds birthday party in a park, right?” the Maori boy chuckles.

“I do, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make the most of it!” the curly haired boys’ hazel eyes sparkle, and he leans to kiss Calum on the cheek before they connect their lips.

“Hey, no face sucking in front of the one year old,” Michael scolds, pointing a joking accusatory finger at the couple. The two were still in their “honeymoon phase,” reveling in the enjoyments of being a new couple who can now face suck whenever they would like.

“Oh, eff off Clifford, you and Hemmings do it all the time,” Ashton mumbles, but still disconnects his lips, leaving Calum whining.

“Hey, let’s eat some cake!” Luke hollers, handing Ella to Michael as he attempts to undo the portable high chair they dragged along. They all agree, and Michael again passes along the baby to Ashton so the party can commence. They sing a loud and off tune rendition of _Happy Birthday_ before slicing in to the large chocolate cake. Luke dolls out the pieces, saving an extra large one for the birthday girl, sliding it onto her tray attachment. Of course she smashes and plays with it slightly more than she puts it in her mouth, but who really cares. It’s all in good fun. The boys have a blast laughing loudly and obnoxiously, reminiscing about the baby’s past and the great memories they’ve created. They do a lot of kissing their respective boyfriends, and just have a great time. Luke is so ecstatic to be here, so ecstatic to be with his best friends, and one who happens to be the love of his life. He is just so full of love and happiness and is ready to burst. He just loves a lot.

\--

Once they get back to Michael’s apartment – Luke realizes that he now spends more time here than in his own home but whatever, it works, sorry, Cal – they tuck a tuckered out Ella into her crib, and make their way back to his bedroom. Luke can feel the atmosphere shift as they both undress, and he’s okay with it. More than okay. And it doesn’t surprise him when they’re both naked and Michael pushes him down on the bed, whispering forceful _I love you’s_ in between heated kisses. It doesn’t surprise him when Michael grabs Luke’s quickly hardening dick, moving it skillfully without ever detaching their lips. It doesn’t surprise him when they lie in a post orgasm heap on the bed, breathing heavily and happily. It doesn’t surprise him as they tiredly profess words of lovingness and forever and always. He really thinks it should surprise him, what with Michael’s past trust issues. But he’s proud to say it doesn’t.

 

\--

sorry the smut isnt actually smut i just didnt have the energy to write it rn there might be more upcoming :)

 

 


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